HOLLOW THY MACABRE
by Kicchin
Summary: Once you emit even the smallest spark, you can no longer stay in the shadows Mysterious deaths, two young heirs, and a strange transfer student, things are bound to change as he find hesitating under those pools of fiery warm crimson eyes, how far can he go to to keep his promise to THEIR mother. AssasinAU, main pair, Kagakuro, Akafuri, minor pairs includes MIDOTAKA, AOKISE
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

 **Gun and Rose**

Kagami sighed for the umpteenth time, he stood in front of the mirror as he dusted off the imaginary dirt in his _expensive_ black suite. His hair was neatly combed back and his suite…well they were very uncomfortable. Honestly, he had no interest in these matters; he'd rather be in the gym doing his regular basketball training with his team. He didn't wish to be born in this business. _Not at all._ He hated talking to people and looking at their fake smiles, their annoying formalities almost sickening. He wish he could tell his father he didn't like this at all, but he is the _only_ heir. He turned around and walked to the hallway, he decided that he could just ignore every single one of them the whole night. He'd make this quick and tomorrow he could be the normal teenager that he is. He could feel the piercing—if not judging—glances the people gave him. He huffed— ** _well sorry if I'm not a fucking good sight to see_** —he muttered to himself as he entered the hall. It was filled with people in business suite and formal dresses, the sickening smell of perfumes lingered, and a soft jazz music played in the background.

He searched for his father, he was supposed to be here. He walked briskly only to be stopped when he felt bumping into—

"Ah, sorry."

He blinked and found nothing before him, he shrugged and continued looking around to find his father. Unknown to his friends and teammates back in Seirin High School—a fairly normal high school, Kagami Taiga is the only son of Kagami Takeru, a business tycoon married to a half-American and half-Japanese woman, Kagami Sandra. Sandra wanted her son to have a fair share of life and sent him to schools where his son's status in society wouldn't be a bias, Kagami agrees with this and is actually happy about his mother's way of thinking. Takeru didn't oppose but he wanted Kagami to be mindful that he is _still_ his son, and the heir of Tiger and Dragon Corporation. Years ago, back when Kagami was a tiny, bitsy little boy he was kidnapped, this pushed the couple to send their only heir to America, away from them. Alexandra Garcia, a family friend took care of the growing child in his stay. And when they deemed that it was fine that he live in Japan with them, they brought him back. Alex suggested to put the heir in a normal high school as a cover up, so that the kidnapping will not be repeated. After all who would ever think that a son of the owner of one of the biggest corporations in Japan is studying in a plain high school with no body guards whatsoever, no one of course.

"TAIGA!" Kagami spun hearing his mother's voice, he smiled at the woman, he rarely sees his family after all, they were usually busy with business and when they do call him it was to discuss formal matters that lulled him to sleep. His mother had a dark brown hair and amber eyes, she wore a simple black dress matched with a pearl necklace. She somehow reminded him of Alex in terms of energy and stamina. "I've been looking for you." She said as she hooked her arm on his and pulled him with her.

"I…was looking for you too." Kagami said looking around, where was his Dad?

"Never mind, your father is speaking with Mebuchi-san in his office perhaps discussing the plans for the new Mall downtown." She said, "While your Father is at it, I shall introduce you with our business partners."

"Mom, do I have to?" Kagami said, he knows he sounded like a whining five year old complaining about the color of his shirt but talking to people, formalities and all those classy things didn't suite his taste at all, it didn't sit well with him. It was tedious.

"Yes, Taiga." She said giving him the classic _mother-look_.

Kagami sighed and let his mother lead her in the sea of people. She stopped by a table filled with gray haired men and women chatting and drinking wine. Kagami recognizees one of them, he saw him in U.S. once, she was her mother's mentor, or so she said. They all laughed and chuckled at some trivial things before Sandra finally introduced her son to them. They all agreed at how young and tall their son was, one commented on his _good looks_ , which somehow surprised Kagami. Knowing his manners, Kagami albeit embarrassed thanked the woman for his compliment. Most of the time people saw him as intimidating, especially at school due to his height. They continued to the next table where a lone man sat, he turned to Sandra when she tapped his shoulder and the man stood greeting her. She quickly introduced her son and Kagami bowed his head, the man smiled back and looked at him from head to toe, saying he was surprised that Kagami had grown so much though he had no idea if he had seen him before, or if he did where. Of course Kagami didn't say anything on that he just smiled. This was one of the things he hated about this kind of parties.

They were filled with liars.

On the next table that Sandra led him, there were a two ladies, a woman who looked a bit around the age of his mother and a younger lady, but not young as he was. The older woman wore a dark red dress with laces covering her bare shoulders, while the younger wore a red kimono with white accents and patterns on it. What caught Kagami's eyes was the brooch on the older woman's dress, it was—

"Oh Sandra," the older woman said smiling, "thank you for this wonderful party."

"Its my pleasure Junko." She said before gesturing to Kagami. "Junko, Keiko, this is Takeru and my son, Taiga."

Kagami realized the brooch was a gold phoenix with studs of rubies as its eyes, he bowed his head politely, "My name is Kagami Taiga, a pleasure to meet you Madam."

"I heard your son grew up in America?"

"Ah yes, things got a bit rough here for dear Taiga so we decided to send him to America for safety."

"Oh, yes, I heard I am very sorry."

"It is all in the past now," Sandra said smiling.

"My, it is indeed very difficult, yes, having a single heir makes them a very usual target of those who want to destroy us."

"Oh, yes, your family has a young heir, yes?" Sandra said as she looked around as if searching for someone, "He has taken over the company already, if I am not mistaken, where is he?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid Seijuuro-sama isn't here, he seems to have left saying something akin about his class tomorrow."

Kagami looked at his mother who was conversing, she had been trained to handle talks, she could memorize thousands of names in a single room and point who is from what family by simply their faces, Kagami Taiga is still nowhere near that kind of skill.

"I understand, I mean it must have been hard for him, losing his parents at such young age then having such big responsibility at sixteen. Now that you think about it Taiga is around the same age as Seijuuro-san."

"Is that so?" The woman said catching Kagami's attention, her lips turned in a smile but Kagami's instinct kicked in, something was awfully wrong in the way she smiled, "I am sure Seijuuro-sama would be glad to meet Kagami-san sometime."

Kagami didn't say anything further. His inside felt like it was being spun inside a washing machine, he didn't like the air around those two. Junko laughed with his mother but something isn't right about when he speaks about this _Seijuuro-sama_ and the girl Keiko who stood next to her even without uttering words, Kagami instantly disliked her. Luckily Sandra ended their conversation and excused themselves sparing Kagami from the deadly suffocating social formalities. As they turned away Kagami noted the way his mother looked, she seemed bothered.

"What's wrong?" he found himself asking her in a low voice. Sandra shook her head.

"Nothing. Its just…" she sighs and pulled Kagami in a corner. Sandra had invited the Akashi family many times in social gatherings like this, sometimes they would send a family representative, back in the days though it had been Seiichiro himself that went, on his tail was Tetsumi with that little boy with scarlet hair. She found out that Tetsumi wasn't very fond of parties, something she had with the _conservative_ upbringing of her family. When Seiichiro died, Tetsumi had to replace her husband and inevitably the temporary head of the family. Since her husband's death she never went to any social gatherings and would send someone else, inevitably was it was Mizukage-Akashi Junko, she had a son whom she refused to allow using her husband's last name forcing him to use Junko's maiden last name. Sandra had been in this business for so long that she can smell malice and corrupt plans from miles and miles away. Junko had pressed the issue about Seiichiro and Tetsumi's son's legibility saying on Tetsumi's due the couple disappeared and came back from a villa the family owned with a son, the attending midwife the day after Tetsumi giving birth fled out of the country, and it was simply suspicious. She wanted the her son to be the next her instead of Seiichiro's son. But it was a stupid presumptions. "She's actually very kin on trying to get Seijuuro-san out of the picture."

"Who the hell is that anyway?"

"The one and only heir of the Akashi clan."

Kagami hated difficult stuffs, and that family screamed of it. "But wait, if they belong to a single household that means they are related right?"

"Yes, Junko is basically Seijuuro-san's aunt."

"So…why is she trying to get her own nephew?"

Sandra frowned, "Power is very tempting," she said quietly, "some people can risk _everything_ for it, some people will bet their own blood and flesh to obtain it."

Kagami felt sorry whoever that _Seijuuro-san_ is. His own aunt is out for him. His very own blood. He was very lucky his father was an only child and his mother, well…his mother's sisters were happy with their normal lives in L.A. indulging in with their own children who at seventeen were getting laid. Alex never liked business, she said anything that has math in it, she's definitely out. He didn't know the difficult that guy was facing, but his life must have been a hell hole. Another reason why Kagami hated being born in this kind of world, the struggle of power always tests if truly blood is thicker than water. You face your own brothers and sister coldly at the other side, it was a ruthless battle of will and influence that can break even the strongest bond.

Honestly he didn't understand what power has that made everyone craved it. It was intangible, a single word, with five letters. Even as a son and heir of a company of their own, Kagami had known better. When he was younger, his father had always told him a very important lesson.

 _"There are things that even with great POWER couldn't save."_

It was a usual day, Akashi Seijuuro finished school earlier than usual and he went through the business related papers, as Seiichiro's son to his lawfully wedded wife Tetsumi, he automatically inherited the business. It may sound ridiculous to hear that a sixteen years old teenager is holding up a multi-million company, but Seijuuro isn't new to this kind of things, ever since he was a child his father had taught him of everything about the business, and Seijuuro wasn't just any kid—he is an Akashi after all. He buries his nose on the paper works ignoring everything else that doesn't matter to him. Ever since his mother died, Seijuuro had forgotten about his life outside school and the company. He believed that his mother was his last string connecting him to the real world. He hated everything else. He wasn't an idiot, surely his father didn't _just_ fell ill. Someone did it, and he knew someone from their family did this to earn the title of the head of the family. His own cousins, own uncles and aunts plotted this for a mere title. Seijuuro had stopped trusting anyone from that, if he couldn't even trust his own blood and flesh related how he could to other people?

After class he barely ahd time to change when his Aunt dragged him out to come to a party arranged by a potential business rival, she instead that he would come but as soon as the hall was filled with people he had the sudden urge to leave and he did. And now the scarlet haired boy sat on his desk scanning the papers, checking on the progress of the newly launched project. The printed words were much interesting that dealing with old ladies in smelly perfumes.

Suddenly Seijuuro's ears perked as he heard something shuffling from behind him, he ignored it and continued on his work until—

 _BLAG_

"AAAAH!"

Seijuuro quickly stood from his seat as he heard the unfamiliar voice coming from behind him, he turned and found a man dressed in black holding his severed arm crying in pain. Blood never bothered the young heir, no, never, it had something that had come with being born in a family of ruthless men, death and bloodshed had been a part of their lives. There was aa gun on the floor and the man's arm lying in the pool of blood. Seijuuro backed away as he realized, someone had done this to the other, and it wasn't surely him. He looked around, it was dark with only his small lampshade illuminating his desk and the open window shedding barely enough light to the room. The man suddenly knelt down and scurried towards the gun on the floor but before he could made another move Seijuuro found something glinting behind the man. As the scarlet haired heir's eyes slowly adjusted to the light he realized the glinting object was actually a tip of something metallic an inch away from the back of the man's neck, he traced the outline until he finally made the whole image of the object—it was a Japanese blade, a katana.

"I wouldn't advise you'd do that." A cold voice said, somehow the voice sounded familiar but Akashi was sure as well he hadn't heard of it before. It was a strange feeling in his gut that he knew him yet he hasn't met him before. "Forgive me for this unsightly creature, my lord."

Akashi didn't know what to say to be honest, what is this person saying, and who is he? For some reason Akashi couldn't feel him inside the room, don't get him wrong he doesn't have some supernatural voodoo but it was of course a sense when someone is actually with you like the feeling you have when you're in a room and even if you cant see you know someone is with you, but in this case Akashi could only sense the presence of the man on the floor and nothing else. No, Seijuuro isn't a fan of ghost stories or anything related, not that he was scared, it just was too surreal for him. And this other person surely isn't a ghost. But who on earth is he? And why was there a guy with a dismembered arm in his study, who let them in? Could one of them be a hired killer, or perhaps both were?

The man on the floor muttered something incoherent before Akashi saw him lift the gun—

 _Splat_

A head rolled on the floor, Seijuuro could only watch it. Then from the darkness slowly the figure emerged. He found himself staring at a pair of beautiful familiar cerulean eyes.

"My Lord."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Lethal Blood**

It was the usual day in the Akashi household, the morning was consisted of cleaning and doing chores before the young heir would wake up. The tables were set for breakfast, for that morning white lilies were set and placed in the vases around the house, the mantels were usually clad in red, it has been a staple color in the household. These rare days Akashi Junko and some of the few members of the minor branch stayed in the main mansion, the night before the two members from the minor branch came to assist the young heir to a party that which of course the young heir ditched, or more appropriately, left. Junko and Keiko came a few hours before midnight and quickly settled to their rooms. The past head of the family had a tact for cleanliness and this somehow became a routine. As soon as the breakfast was done, the silence was broken with soft footsteps on marble floor.

"Good morning Akashi-sama." The maids greeted the young man as he quietly slipped to his usual seat. He crossed one of his leg to the other as another maid came with the daily newspaper in hand and handed it to the teenager. The shuffling of the paper was the only sound in the table as the maids slowly filled the table with their meal. A set of footsteps resounded on the room making the boy smirked and settled the newspaper in the side of the table, he eyed the two figure coming in, a sly smiles in their lips as they talked about each other oblivious of his presence.

"Good morning Junko-san, Keiko-san as well."

His voice was like hot metal slicing through butter, the two stopped and turned to him with a shock expression. He smiled politely, "How was the party?" he asked casually.

"S-Sei…juuro-sama?" Junko stuttered, her face draining off color staring at the boy before her.

"Why, yes, it is me, you look surprise, didn't you expect me to be in my own house?" he chuckled, "Oh, please have a seat, we cannot let the food wait, yes?"

Junko nodded and the two reluctantly took their seat while stealing glances at each other. Akashi noted this obvious shock in their faces and the way Junko somehow looked like she has seen a ghost. After thanking the Gods for their meal, he took a toast and a bacon placing them in his plate and eating it them like he usually does. The two were watching him intently making him smile in satisfaction. Faking the a surprised look the heir stopped midway from taking a bite and settled his fork in the corner of his plate. "Is something the matter?" he asked, "Junko-san you're staring."

Junko quickly avoided eye contact as she chuckled nervously, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, its just that I haven't taken your looks yesterday and now, my, I realized how much you've grown."

 _Liar_

"Oh, I guess time flies in a swift." He said smiling before taking the fork and continue his meal, "How was the party?"

"I-Its uhm, well, I met Kagami Sandra's son nothing much, he looks inexperienced."

"The most dangerous opponents are not those who comes to you up front with a knife," Akashi said before turning to Junko and flashing a smile sickeningly familiar to the woman, it was the kind of smile Tetsumi would flash after without a blink shooting three armed men for trying to assault her husband, "the most dangerous are those who come to you wearing a disguise as a _friend._ "

Junko forgot how to breath for a moment, when Tetsumi was younger, it was what kept her at bay, that smile that told her she could kill her and it wouldn't cause her a night of sleep. Every single fiber of her body screamed to her that she was in danger, something was terribly wrong in this picture. Heck, Akashi being in that seat was wrong in every single way, he shouldn't be sitting in that chair, he should have been late, and he should have been missing, then they will go find him around the house and find his cold corpse in his study where he usually was. But he was there sitting, eating breakfast with them, asking them how was the party, how was that possible? The chair screeched as she stood abruptly.

"My, did I say something wrong?" Akashi asked.

"N-No, I…I just suddenly didn't feel well." She said, her hands shook, she needs to call that guy, didn't she give clear instructions?

"Do you need me to call your physician?"

"No thank you," she said quickly, "Keiko come with me."

The two quickly left and ran to their rooms on the second floor. Akashi shook his head chuckling as he continued his meal, he has a class to catch, after all he was sure they'll find _their_ surprise for them soon.

.

.

.

 _Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz_

Junko raised a brow, was it just her imagination or…the sound was coming from inside the room. She held the phone in her hands as the phone continued to dial the number. Why was Akashi still alive? What on earth was happening? She paced back and forth in the room waiting for the other line to answer, but it directed her to the voicemail, with a frustrated huff she redialled again.

 _Bzzzz…bzz…_

Junko's eyes widen, she stopped from moving as the noise was getting louder, she turned looking at her side, it was a double door closet, slowly she pressed close to it, and just like that the noise became louder, and louder. Her heart raced with the sound. With shaking and sweaty hands she opened the closet—

A breath caught in her throat as she found a black mobile phone on the bottom of the closet, vibrating against the wood, the massive black garbage bag next to didn't escape her eyes. Reluctantly she reached the phone, and her eyes widen as she saw her number flashing on the screen. Why was it on her closet? Swallowing a lump in her throat she stopped calling and the phone stopped vibrating as well. If it was in her, it means that the person she paid to kill Akashi was in there too, but…where was that guy? She nearly dropped the black mobile phone when it vibrated again, this time an unknown number flashed in the screen. She didn't know what has gotten to her when she decided to answer the call. There was no words, no one spoke, not her or the caller, there was nothing but static noise.

"H-Hello?" she said voice cracking under sheer terror.

 _"A wolf dressed in lamb's skin, such great acting skills and with that I give you a gift."_

"Who the hell are you?" Junko exclaimed, the voice was cold, almost toneless, "Who the hell is this?"

 _"Accept this tiny gift from me, forgive me I was in a rush and wrapped in a humble black bag. I do sincerely hope that you_ _ **like**_ _it."_

Junko's eyes widen as her heart hammered against her chest, she stared at the black bag on the closet. Shivering in fear she dropped the black mobile phone. She grabbed the black bag that was tied in duct tape, she pried the duct tape off and finally she was able to unwind it but a stench quickly filled her nostrils. What the hell is it that could smell so awfully? Junko was feeling much nervous now, putting her phone down she knelt and without looking she reached both of her arms down the bag, she felt something quite round, cold and heavy. Slowly she lifted the heavy object to reveal-

.

.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

…

"Okay, okay settle down!"

The class was quickly transformed into tame little lambs when the teacher announced his presence, at the far back Kagami sat without a care in the world, he was too sleepy, the party lasted till one in the morning and it was no way in hell, or in any inch fun. He felt like socializing had sipped every bits of his energy. He didn't even bother to had his shirt ironed, he just grabbed them and ran to school, don't get him wrong, he has a car, and a driver, but he prefers to go to school as normal as possible. He doesn't want to answer any question regarding a bblack foreign car and men in black escorting a high school student. That kills the pint of enrolling to Seirin. Yawning he tried to focus to what the old guy was saying in front, he was writing something on the board— ** _Ku…Kuroko?_** Kagami blinked, wait, wasn't history class in the afternoon? He watched as he found a few characters next to it, a name? Who the hell is that?

"From now on today he will be on our class."

Everyone blinked, is their teacher high? Who the hell is he talking—

"Good morning."

Everyone practically yelp in surprise as a cold monotonous voice came somewhere from the doorway. Kagami was no exception, damn he felt like he had a heart attack for a moment there. He was never a fan of Ju-On or anything like that and this was the reason, jumpscares. Kagami cursed in his mind as he craned his neck to get a clearer view of their new classmate that was unfortunately— ** _fuck, he has a height of a middle schooler_**. The boy walked to the center just almost an arm length away from their homeroom teacher, he bowed his head and raised. Kagami was astonish with his powder blue eyes that were so big it reminded him of—Kagami groan, seriously, damn why did he have those eyes, he felt chills run up his spine as the mental image decided on its own it was fun to stay there for a while.

"Good morning, I am Kuroko Tetsuya, I am in your care now."

Wow, more importantly Kagami has to admit, this guy has a talent in probably pretending to blend in the background, he could almost forget someone was actually talking well if it wasn't for that fluffy looking baby blue hair. The teacher was saying something but Kagami missed almost half of it, or maybe everything as his mind drifted to his training menu today, he wasn't someone who would actally care about some new student with an almost non-existent presence. He yawned quietly as he decided this a rare chance to take a nap—

"Take that vacant seat behind Kagami-san, and please Kagami-san spare me of a headache by _not_ sleeping in."

Or maybe not, Kagami clicked his tongue as he turned to the new student, his eyes were on him almost staring. The boy walked towards him quietly, his eyes fixed on the seat behind him. Kagami could care any less, but something made his almost choke on his breath, as he pass him something caught his nostrils, it was faint but he was sure he caught it—the scent of…blood. He spun catching the boy as he slipped in his seat, he wasn't wearing the Seirin uniform yet, instead he wore a dark blue sweater over a black button up. His light shade blue hair and eyes were brighter over his dark colored clothes, the new student looked at Kagami bowing his head in acknowledgement. He muttered a small good morning before settling down. Kagami couldn't shake the feeling about those blue eyes, they were big and mysterious, and…

 _Blood lust_

Kagami's mouth went wide as he found his instincts kicked in screaming at him, he couldn't tear his eyes away though, somehow despite that realization something about it looked so awfully…enchanting and charming. He gulped, as those pools of blue blinked and darted to his eyes Kagami felt his heart skip a beat, he wasn't really sure if it was for the fact that this guy smells like a carnal desire for bloodshed or the fact that those pools of blue were as beautiful as the calm sea on a midsummer day.

"Is something wrong?" the boy asked him.

"N-No, n-nothing." Kagami said as he looked away. No, he surely cannot be with this guy, he can't come close to people who reeks of danger.

This type of people were the kinds of people he shouldn't be dealing with, they were danger and as far as he is concerned he would love to reach till Winter Cup, thank you very much. He gulped audibly as he looked straight, yep, this day couldn't be worst, he doesn't want to transfer to another school just because a mysterious transfer student has the air of danger around him. calm sea on a midsummer day.

"Is something wrong?" the boy asked him.

"N-No, n-nothing." Kagami said as he looked away. No, he surely cannot be with this guy, he can't come close to people who reeks of danger.

This type of people were the kinds of people he shouldn't be dealing with, they were danger and as far as he is concerned he would love to reach till Winter Cup, thank you very much. He gulped audibly as he looked straight, yep, this day couldn't be worst, he doesn't want to transfer to another school just because a mysterious transfer student has the air of danger around him. Alright, he'll just have to distance himself from this guy, yep, that's right.

 _SO WHY THE FUCK AM I ASSIGNED TO FUCKING TOUR THIS GUY IN THE CAMPUS!_

Kagami mentally clawed his imaginary walls of freedom away from those big blue eyes, damn why, of all thirty students in his class, why him, why _fucking_ him? Kagami wanted to roll right then and there at the dirt and bang his head at the nearest wall, if it wasn't so bad that this guy smells like bloodshed, he has these freaking huge blue eyes that reminded him of his arch enemy, the cannis species or in short, dogs. Why does he have those Siberian Husky like eyes, why is the damn sky inside his eyeballs? He has no idea why his homeroom teacher had decided this, but he curse every falling few of those remaining hairs he has for putting him in utter doom. His eyebrow twitched at the sight, the small back facing him as they walk in the hallway, why is the school even giving this guy special treatment, no one seems to care that he enrolled in the middle of the freaking school year, and he doesn't even have a uniform. And why isn't he saying anything?

As if on cue the smaller male stopped and turned to Kagami staring the taller male, he found Kuroko raising a hand over his lips.

"Kagami-kun has weird eyebrows."

Kagami choked at the comment and as if on reflex he grabbed the boy's head with his enormous hand, an annoyed smirked placed itself on his lips, "What'd ya say you little shit?" he said half growling.

"Please let go," the boy said with poker face, "it hurts."

"LIKE HELL, YOU DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE YOU'RE IN PAIN."

"Ouch."

"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?"

Kuroko pressed his index finger over his lips when suddenly Kagami heard a loud slamming of a door next to them—

"KAGAMI TAIGA ITS YOU ISNT IT?"

Kagami's eyes widen as he saw a familiar face standing at the doorway, obviously pissed, his eyes darted towards the sign above the door— ** _LIBRARY_**. Of course, damn, this day couldn't get any worse. Kuroko bowed his head in silent apology to the man. Well, the man's anger wasn't directed to him which gave him an easy way to apologize, but Kagami was another case. Kagami felt an impending doom coming as those dark eyes stare at him almost bearing holes on his forehead. He slowly back away from his upperclassman, somehow he felt like Kuroko did it on purpose.

"Have you no manners at all, shouting in this place?!" Hyuuga exclaimed angrily at the underclassman, and teammate whose brain seems to work good only inside the court. "You stupid little—"

"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

"I AM NOT DONE YET WITH YOU BAKAGAMI! COME BACK HEEEERE!"

.

.

"You are so not cute!"

Kagami tried to catch his breath, he looked over at the small blue haired boy looking like he'll collapse any time soon. Is he really a high school his stamina seems like a seven years old boy—or maybe worst. Somehow looking at him, Kagami wondered why his instinct told him that this frail, skinny boy is dangerous. He seems like he'll fall unconscious any moment from just running around the campus. Maybe this was that one rare moment where his instincts fails him. Kagami collected himself as he decided no one will bother if he'll lay down on the grass. Kuroko watched as the taller male laidd on the grass unceremoniously, his uniform was almost sticking in his body from sweat. Kuroko wasn't really good in running, he never was really good in running, well he didn't need to before. he didn't knew that being a high school student was this tiring. He stood there watching the rapid rise and fall of the taller male's chest, panting. His eyebrows are funny, he noticed, but he aside from that he has a nice physique, tall and sculpted at the right places, not huge bulky, just right for his height. Kuroko looked at his wrinkled sleeve where Kagami had held him when they ran. Though he has such big hands he was very careful in holding him, like he was aware of the strength that those hands have.

"Kagami-kun I am sure that the ground isn't a comfortable place to lay down." Kuroko said breaking the silence. Kagami huffed and said something about how it was Kuroko's fault they ended up there. Kagami sat up and ran a hand over his double shade hair. It somehow reminded him of—

"You did that on purpose." Kagami complained as he stood dusting off his pants.

"I don't know what you are saying." Kuroko said, well that was true, he wasn't really expecting Kagami to react like that, he thought the other would just glare at him or shrug off the comment. Well, he will be lying if he said that he found it funny at how the taller male reacted, and those eyebrows— ** _snickers_** —Kuroko placed a hand over his lips before side glancing.

"You—" Kagami grumbled, "You're snickering!"

"I am not."

"Don't say that with that poker face."

"I apologize it seems that my face is forever in this state."

"HA? ARE YOU KIDDING."

"Yes."

"Wha—You little!"

"Kagami-kun its very rude to comment about my height, I am not little, you are just abnormally tall."

"I am not abnormally tall, I'm half American, sorry if my genes designed me this way."

"I am surprised that you have such word in your vocabulary."

"Are you belittling me?"

"Then you understand what it feels like to be insulted."

"YOU STARTED IT."

"I did not such thing."

"You did, with my _eyebrows!_ "

Kuroko fell quiet staring at the taller male, alright, point taken.

"I see, I am sorry I have offended you." Kuroko said with a straight face before bowing his head, he raised his head and stared again at the taller male, "Its just that your eyebrows are—"

"STOP LOOKING AT THEM!"

Kuroko couldn't help it, this guy kept doing funny reactions, is this guy really a future rival of Akashi Corporations? He doesn't even look like one. Kuroko frowned, ah, but this guy, if he doesn't become careful, who might know that this airheaded guy may be the biggest hindrance to his-

 _BROTHER_


	3. Chapter 3

_SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT BUT WELCOMEEEE TO CHAPTER 2 OF HOLLOW THY MACABRE! Thank you for those who gave this a fav and follow, I LOVE YOU GUYS. This is my first Author's note in this story *chuckles shyly* Ah, but this is only my third fanfic so forgive me for any mistakes, and stuffs. I thank every single soul that is reading this fic, yes,_ _ **YOU.**_ _Thank you, I have been actually debating with my best friend if I should do this AU or not, though I have touched this topic back in Monogatari(OMG if you havent read that story, please if you have time give it a shot) its still a bit a strange quarantined zone for me lol but a challenge is a challenge, as Kagami puts it LOL. So what do you think, is it a go or no go for me, LEAVE ME REVIEW PLEAAAASE ahahaha!_

 _To our two first reviewers Bubbles9595 thank you for the compliment, I was honestly very relucaant about launching HTM since I haven't really tried focusing on Assasins and stuffs, its like when they are present I need to add this element of suspense or it would be boring and I am not very sure if I could do that, BUT I SHALL TRY MY BEST THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT! And to AJ-san *dances with you* THANK YOU, THAAANK YOU ahaha, I hope you like our update and sorry for making you wait. YES but they are very special kind of siblings *winks* HOHOHO! Well, what is Kuroko planning? And who exactly is Kuroko Tetsuyaaaa *drum rolls* READ TO FIND OUT LOVES! Again thank you everyone and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW_

 _Disclaimer, I dont own KnB, cause if I did it Kagakuro and Akafuri had long been cannon_

 **Chapter 2: VIGILANTE**

 ** _"One cannot truly know someone, until the time they have seen him in his darkness."_**

.

.

The Kagami household was pretty much normal, actually it was awful quiet. Unlike those rich guys most of the people see in the stereotype rich kids, Kagami lived alone, in a fairly normal flat—or maybe a fairly a bit spacious than necessary flat. It was part of the cover up, but of course sometimes he'd get a call from his Dad's hired security service for him, but Kagami hated informing about his life, heck he barely talk about his school to his parents, and they expect him to be cool with telling other people he barely knows? Kagami Taiga simply to put it, would rather live a normal teenage life, no bodyguards, commuting to school, and not having to do with rich people whom secretly plots to kill him—or some of them. He learned to cook back in the U.S, Alex couldn't cook to live so someone has to, he hates relying on others for trivial chores, he can't even imagine asking someone else to wash his underwear. Maybe it was his mother rubbing on him, or maybe he wasn't just like the other kids. He appreciates that the money his parents earn is the fruit of their labor and sweat, it doesn't pop out of nowhere to simply spend it on hiring maids to do things he could surely do himself. So practically he lives on his own in an apartment a few blocks away from Seirin High School.

He can live on his own without a help from others—is his point, if he wasn't just going to inherit that huge company maybe he could have said to them that this was the kind of life he wanted—free. But alas, that's not what his last name suggests. After getting ready for school Kagami secured that he left nothing that could end him up in detention, like books. He quickly left after making sure everything is with him. Yesterday was…well kinda strange with the new student coming. The strange feeling of danger and warry he has for the newbie is kinda strange as well, perhaps there was something he isn't telling them about? Kagami wanted to shove the idea at the furthest back of his mind, just look at him, Kuroko Tetsuya's as thin a damn bamboo, he's actions are too polite, and he can't even ran around campus without looking like he'll collapse any moment, how can someone like him be dangerous? But what if he was only acting, Kagami thought, what if indeed. But something told him the guy isn't acting. Then, what is that feeling?

After a few walks, Kagami finally arrived to school, as usual it was bustling with noise. Well somehow noise was comforting, it meant, normal, usual, nothing out of ordinary, it had become his reassurance. A life of a heir isn't just as simple as what other people thinks, well it has a few perks, but Kagami saw the ccons more frequently. Back in the U.S. whenever someone finds out he's some heir, they'd stick to him like a leech asking favors and such, whenever things don't go their way they'd blame it to him saying Kagami gets to get out of trouble just because he's some rich kid. Kagami hates that kind of people the most. When he came to Seirin, the kids there didn't know anything about him and his family's business. Of course they asked though, when he joined the basketball team, the team's coach Aida Riko asked what his parents do for a living after learning where he previously study and his address.

 _"Uhm, family business—"_

That wasn't a lie, that was a family business after all but Riko just hummed and continued the introduction, her treatment to him didn't change, not even a bit. Sometimes he wonder if they actually understood what he meant, or they just don't care about his family background. Those were one of the reason why Kagami liked it there, they just causally accepted him like he wasn't any different. Kagami liked the friendly attitude of the team, honestly they were the only people who he can truly call a friend, because despite not knowing much about him, they go to his rescue when it counts.

Kagami opened his shoe compartment to change into their indoor shoes, he remember his first day when the school staffs bowed their head vehemently because there were no spare shoes that could fit his feet. Japanese people are very humble and self-concsious, sometimes they apologize for the things that they have zero involvement to, it still never fails to amuse Kagami.

"If you do not hurry won't you be late for the first class?"

Kagami almost slammed himself to the lockers as he heard the cold monotonous voice rang in his ears like an alarm clock or a bucket of ice cold water. Blinking Kagami found a pair of striking blue eyes staring right at him. Kagami cursed this guy's ability to pop out of nowhere. "Can't you appear more normally!" Kagami exclaimed.

"How rude, this is very normal and I have been here for a few minutes now."

"And you've been staring at me since then?"

"I would be lying if I said no."

"SERIOUSLY?!"

"Kagami-kun I do not joke."

Kagami just wanted to bang his head on the lockers, this guy is helpless, Kagami decided to shrug him off and continue to go to the class—

"Where are you going Kagami-kun."

"To class, captain obvious."

"But isn't our classroom this way?"

Kagami almost choked as he came to hit the humiliating realization that this midget is correct, blushing in embarrassment he turned the other way and continued walking trying to rid off his thoughts the embarrassment that he just had. This guy has a hobby of making him feel like an idiot, damn, Kagami walked to the class quietly and was greeted by a few familiar faces—Fukuda and Furihata who were both from the basketball team. He sat on his seat and fished his phone out of his pocket, there was a mail from his mom. He blinked, weren't they supposed to be going to Manchester today for a business trip? He clicked the mail and scrolled to see an attachment file.

 _FROM: SandraKagami [MOM]_

 _To: TigerKagami [Taiga Kagami]_

 _Hello baby, hope you're fine, please tell me you are. There's a lot of stuffs going around, I heard some news, maybe we should really just hire a personal bodyguard for you_

Kagami clicked the attachement file, it was a news from a local TV channel. He zoomed in to read the article, there was a picture of an open black bag and the contents seemed…red? It was pixelated. Above the picture was the headline title— ** _BUTCHERED MAN FOUND IN A GARBAGE BAG INSIDE AKASHI MANOR_**. Kagami blinked, wait…Akashi...Akashi, where did he heard of it again?

 _"They are from the Akashi family."_

 _"He's the heir of the Akashi household."_

Kagami blinked, yes, those two women he met in the party, they daid they were from the Akashi family. Could it be—Kagami continued reading the article—

 _Corpse of a dismembered man found in the closet in one of the rooms of Akashi Manor, the man was identified as Kurozawa Ito, thirty years old, male, with eight cases of homicide over his head. The corpse was found by the aunt of the owner of manor, Akashi Junko(34), she claimed to have received a call from an unregistered number telling her of the bag inside the closet. Police narrowed suspicion as a threat to the heir of the Akashi family._

Kagami raised a brow, wow, that…was creepy. A chopped body in your house, well good thing he isnt that famous for anyone to care about him. Kagami was about to put his phone back to his pocket when he felt a hot breath on his neck making him stand abruptly toppling his desk and chair as he held his the back of his neck in shock only to find the familiar teal haired boy leaning.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN!" Kagami exclaimed, damn he feels so bad about the people in this guy's house if they have to live with his thin presence, he felt like he was suddenly a main character in a freaking thriller, suspense movie. "Can you not breathe on my neck."

"Oh I apologize." Kuroko said bowing his head. Kagami muttered under his breath a few profanities as he pulled his desk and chair avoiding the awkward looks from his classmates who probably didn't saw Kuroko and his freaking hobby of scaring the shit out of him.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you're doing this on purpose." Kagami said as he stare at the other raising a brow. Wait, was he…reading the message of his mom to him, wow, that wasn't very polite. Could it be, that the reason why he was apologizing is—"You were reading my message, that's invasion of privacy."

"No, I was only reading that article you are reading, was that just today?"

Kagami blinked, why did this guy care? Kagami looked over at the date on the article again—"

"No, uh, it says here it was yesterday."

Kuroko hummed before settling to his seat. Kagami wondered why the hell the guy was interested, does he know Akashi—ah, wait that's kinda the wrong thing to say, like who on Japan doesn't know Akashi? They're like everywhere, their name as sponsors in shows, marathons, name it. Maybe he's one of the guys whose interested in their fortune, this made Kagami frown, he didn't thought he was like that. "I was merely interested in the case." Kagami heard the guy say from behind him, turning he found the guy getting a pocket book out of his bag and reading it nonchalantly.

 _Wait…what?_

Kagami was baffled for the moment, did he just answered his mental question? What is he some psychic?

"I am not a medium of any of those sorts."

"How the hell did you know—"

"What you are thinking?"

Kagami's mouth hung open, okay, that was—

"I am not creepy Kagami-kun." Kuroko said before taking a deep sigh and placed the book on top of his desk staring right at the red haired boy's eyes. "You are merely to easy to read."

"NO,NO, NO YOU ARE FUCKED U—"

 _Glint_

"KAGAMI-KUN!"

Before he knew it everything spun and he felt being pulled down in a speed of slipping down on the floor, and yes probably he did ended up on the floor—

 _BANG! CRASH!_

Kagami had no idea how did he ended up like this, he saw the shattered glass falling on his lower body as he felt a weight in his arm and over his shoulder, then he saw it, like a slow motion, a bullet passing straight to where he was sitting just then. Then he heard another loud noise and then screaming. His heart was racing in that few seconds—a bullet…he was…someone tried to kill him? He gulped as everything somehow cleared, he could hear his classmates shouting for help, then he found someone ducking next to him—Furihata? He blinked away the fear in his system, Furihata looked worried, he exclaimed something but Kagami cannot hear anything yet as if the adrenaline had pulled his sense of hearing for a moment.

"Kagami-kun are you okay?"

Finally the sound reached his ears, Kagami blinked again, was he…shot? He ran his hands over his body, no blood, no wounds, he was…alright?

"Y-Yeah." He said as he was about to stand he realized a weight weighing him down, a hand was loosely draped over his chest and a weight. Slowly he looked over to his side and what he saw caused him to panic. "Oi Kuroko!" Kagami sat up and the hand draped on his chest fell flat on the floor with the unconscious figure. The teal haired boy was lying on his side, and a pool of crimson underneath his head. Kagami lightly shook the boy again but there was no response.

Furihata only realised the boy lying on the floor with Kagami when the taller male exclaimed, there was blood, looking over he found the bullet was stuck on the wall across the window, somehow fired a gun at their school? Furihata turned towards the broken glass window, there was…well nothing. Looking back at the bloodied student he called Fukuda to call the teachers. There was blood in a desk nearby, on the corner could it be—"Ah! Kagami-kun!" Furihata exclaimed when he found the taller male suddenly carrying the boy in his back, half of his face was covered in blood which made Furrihata weak in his knees, there is no way in hell he will ever be comfortable with blood, "W-Wait Kagami-kun w-we should wait for the teachers and—"

"HE'S FUCKING BLEEDING IN THE HEAD IS THERE TIME TO WAIT FOR THE TEACHERS?"

Before Furihata could protest he found Kagami running out of the classroom with the teal haired boy.

…

The next time Kuroko woke up was to the sound of muffled voices, groaning he felt his head hurting like hell. He opened his eyes only to be assaulted by the smell of disinfectant and rubber, he look around and saw—white, why is the wall of his room so…white. He shifted only to feel something stingy in his hand, lazily he sat up and found a white blanket over half of his body while an IV was on him—wait…could this be…a hospital. He blinked away his sleepiness and found himself in a private hospital room. Wait, why was he here again? Closing his eyes he tried his best to remember. The flash of memories quickly flooded him, Kagami was saying something, when he saw it. A parked black sedan across the street, and a dark figure behind the bushes, a gleaming material—then it clicked to him as the sun accidentally reflected the object—it was a sniping gun. Then he saw the guy shifted, then saw the way his arms move, he was going to shoot. Before he knew it he was pulling Kagami to duck down, and something hit his head—or more precisely, he hit his head on something hard before everything turned black. Kuroko sighed, what on earth was he thinking, he injured himself over a panic. Kagami Taiga was the first person ever to do that to him—a lapse in his concentration, for a moment he was intently listening to Kagami's nonsense blabber— ** _why was I even listening when I know its just nonsense?_**

Kuroko heard the door opening and what he saw coming in was someone he didn't expect to see. "Nijimura-san." Kuroko found himself calling the older man, he looked at him—no, he was glaring. He isn't amused at all, nope, not at all. He got himself all prepared for an earful of scolding from the other when suddenly someone else stepped in, it was Kagami, he was wearing a dark maroon shirt and cargo pants with a white and red jacket in his hand, his eyes widen as he found the him sitting up.

"Fuck, why are you sitting up, should you be sitting up, wait, how are you feeling, any pains any—"

"Kagami-kun please, I am alright." Kuroko cut the boy midway as he found a doctor and a nurse stepping in.

"Its good that you are up now, Kuroko-san, how are you feeling?" The doctor asked, Kagami stepped aside to let the man do his job, the nurse whispered something about check up and flashes a pen light at his eyes, which of course was very suprisng but nonetheless Kuroko just blinked it away. The nurse wrote something in her clipboard and gave it to the doctor. The doctor hummed reading them.

"How is he?" Nijimura asked.

"Looks like we can dismiss you early." The doctor said before passing the clipboard to the nurse again, "Well, how are you feeling Kuroko-san, any pains, or discomfort? Do you remember what happened?"

Kuroko paused, "No, my head feels a bit heavy but…I assume that's normal, after all I hit my head." The doctor hummed, he declared in a single statement the answere for two questions, Kuroko didn't like answering lots of queries anyways.

"Yes," the doctor answered, "Well it seems like you just bleed quite easily, but there isn't problem with that, your skin is just a bit thinner, which takes me, I think you should probably try going outside from time to time, your skin is very sensitive because it doesn't seem used to abrasions or similar of sorts. Its just a simple cut, no fractures or anything, I don't see any head trauma as well. I would let you go now, I'd sign your release papers later on and if something doesn't feel quite right just come to my clinic, alright?"

Kuroko nodded and the man excused himself along with the nurse quietly leaving the room. Kagami sighed and ran a hand through his hair, Kuroko noted that this something he does whenever he feels a bit vexed. The guy looks like he wanna kill himself of humiliation—not that he'd allow that though, he has plans for him.

"I-I'm so sorry." Kagami said finally, "D-Don't worry I'll pay your medical expenses after all this is all because of me, sorry about that."

"It is quite alright, it was an accident."

"No, I mean, you protected from that bullet and—"

"I know you do not wish to speak of this, yes?" Kagami stopped as he stared at Kuroko. "I assume there is a strong reason why no one in the class seems to know who you are… _really_."

"You…know me?"

"Kagami Taiga, of course."

Kagami stared at Kuroko, okay…he didn't expect that. But is he saying he is willing to keep his secret, but why? What's will he get from _saving_ him and keeping his secret? Something smells fishy about this but Kagami couldn't pull himself to be angry to the guy who practically hit his head in the panic of saving him. He sighed, "Alright, I get it, this never happened." Kagami said understanding what the other is trying to tell him. He looked at the guy leaning on the wall. He said his name was Nijimura Shuuzo, Kuroko's legal guardian. For some reason he looks shady, well not like those goons you see in the movie, actually he looks, professional, he wore a black slacks and beige long sleeves with a black tie as well, his hair was just at the right length, but somehow something told Kagami he isn't what he think he is. The man was polite though, he talked to the doctors like how his Dad would with his business partners, and the way he stood was very confident. So…Kuroko's parents aren't here?

"I am terribly sorry for the trouble my _nephew_ had caused you." Nijimura said bowing his head.

"N-No, i-it was…my fault." Kagami said. That's the truth, he was the target, who else would be targeted by a sniper aside from his flashy red hair he can only think of none. "Uhm if there is anything else I could be of help please do tell me I owe Kuroko my life."

Nijimura stared at him for a moment like he was thinking, an eyebrow raised— ** _what the hell?_** Kagami thought as the man cleared his throat, "Thank you for the offer, Kagami-san but I personally think my nephew is alright now."

"If you insist then, but yeah, just give me a ring is something's up." Kagami said, "I would leave my number in the front desk so if there is anything I could do."

Nijimura nodded, "Yes, I appreciate your kindness Kagami-san."

Kagami turned to Kuroko, "Uh, hey, uhm, I'm going ahead, stuffs are a bit rough so I need to go, sorry."

"There is no need to apologize Kagami-kun."

Kagami stared at him for a moment he sighed and walked over tossing to him the jacket he had been holding since he stepped in the room. "Uh, I figured you'd be cold so…I don't know your place or whatever so I hope you'd bear with it, and yeah its clean so no need to worry."

Kuroko blinked and looked at the material now sprawled in his lap, the jacket was big, of course given Kagami's size it would be, there were red and black linings and a big printed letters in English alphabet— ** _SEIRIN_** **.** The school's jersey jacket, he assumed, Kuroko looked up at Kagami, the guy was being unnecessarily nice to him. Honestly Kuroko doesn't know what to say, should he thank him, or maybe he should just keep quiet. But he might misunderstand his silence, he decided it would be better thanking him. "Thank you." He said, the word was foreign to his tongue, when was the last time someone did something for him like this again? The thought somehow was warm, someone…out of pure concern did something for him.

"I-Its alright." Kagami blushed, Kuroko's face looks like he was genuinely happy though there wasn't any smile in his lips something about his vibe told him he was happy. How can someone so cute, so…innocent looking be dangerous, Kagami yelled curses to his insticts, fuck instincts, this guy is titally harmless. "I-I hope to see you in school tomorrow then. G-Good evening." He said before he bowed to Nijimura and excused himself.

Kuroko watched the way Kagami Taiga tried to hide those evident blush in his cheeks as he left shutting the door behind him. His hands fiddled with the silky material of the jacket, tracing the outline of the printed letters. He saved Kagami Taiga, the thought bothered him but he tried reasoning out his actions to himself, there is a very strong reason why he needs him alive… _for now._ He is kind, but for all he knows this could be façade, he was after all still a threat. Kuroko's ettention turned to Nijimura as he heard him clear his throat. Kuroko wondered how on earth did Kagami managed to call Nijimura, he didn't put him as his guardian in his I.D. or anything.

"I heard from my men," Nijimura started before sighing, "when you were rushed here Kagami Taiga registered your name, of course it'll get to us. I went here and found you…like that."

"It was only a lapse in my concentration, it would not be repeated."

"That isn't the problem here _Kuroko_." Nijimura emphasized that surname, it was the surname that bounded him to this kind of business ever since he was a child. The only thing his mother let him have of her. "Why did you suddenly do _that_."

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb on me, you talked to _him_ right, he knows now about you."

"It is necessary, I promised—"

"You promised you will take care of your brother not _kill_ for me."

"This is my nature—"

"And you have a choice."

Kuroko was quiet, he let the older speak feeling the heavy weight on his voice. "She gave you out because she knows you will be in danger, in those people's eyes were like sitting duck, they will all join forces to kill you just simply because their tradition said so. She didn't want to be away from you but she did anyways, for what, for your safety, for your brother's safety, and now what? What exactly are you planning? Why did you show up now, and here?" Nijimura couldn't believe it, after Kuroko disappeared a few months ago a murder of a hired killer was all over the news, slashed by a chopped in the most clean way—by the blade of a katana, inside the Akashi household, after learning this Nijimura made a quick asking from a few of his ties and found out that Kurozawa Ito's last assignment was to kill someone from the Akashi household, the deposit was five million yen. The thought only made sense if it was his _nephew_ 's doing, of course it is. "What are your plans, why are you associating with Kagami Taiga?"

Kuroko was quiet for a moment, he refuse to look at the man's eyes. He knows the very moment that he left his room in the Kuroko Household he had to risk everything, his identity, his life, and he knows as well this would betray what Nijimura wanted for him. The man wanted him to live a queit life, when he becomes old enough he'd be coached into the business of trading like what Nijimura does, a life that is surely different from what they really were. The household held the _best_ hired assassins in Japan, this is something many people do not know. They thought they were just unsociable rich people who prefer to keep their line shut off from the _commoners_ of the social hierarchy. But this was the dark secret they had been living for the past generations, from childhood they were trained to be the perfect killing machine, and when he means perfect, they learn everything, from trivial things such as business talks, philosophy, to things that most children wouldn't be—shouldn't—be learning, like driving a car at the age of ten, naming all pressure points in the human body, and learning to shoot precisely at a moving target. When they reach the age of fourteen, a usual family member would be allowed to take jobs, but failure is _never_ acceptable. It was kill or die. If you do not succeed, better off kill yourself. But Kuroko isn't a usual family member, he is…special. That was why Nijimura had high hopes for him, for him he was the change he had been waiting for.

But Kuroko couldn't sit still upon overhearing that someone is planning to kill his brother. His only remaining family, that very moment he realize, while he was there sheltered in the household full of people would roll over and die for him, his brother was surrounded by lying wolves in sheep skin. He was comfortably sitting there while he was brother's life is at risk.

"Answer me Kuroko, what are your plans with that boy—"

"To kill him."

 _For brother's sake…_


	4. Chapter 4

_HELLO WELCOME TO CHAPTER 3! Did I make you wait for too long? Aww, sorry didnt mean to do that. I was busy with stuffs at the uni, but no worries, I shall not leave you guys because I LOVE YOUUUUU! So probably many of you are asking, why the hell in all Kicchin's fanfic AU, the GoMs are Kuroo's big bros, well, the reason is simple. I always see the GoM as Kuroko's overly protective Onii-chan even in the anime, especially Aomine and Akashi. And yeah, especially Akashi, and even the author himself confessed that originally, or **supposedly** Kuroko and Akashi were meant to be BROTHERS/COUSINS in the anime/manga, but he turned off the plan for some reason IDK. Am I the only one whom after seeing Akashi in the manga quickly assumed he was related to Kuroko? It's actually funny, when the whole arc ended and I was like...'wait they aren't bros?' I mean they're at one point so similar, they're both manipulative, but in Kuroko he's more like 'I keep the innocent look but I'm the master mind and the utter cause of your misery sire' while Akashi is more like 'IDC what you think, I'm the DEVIL live it.'(idk if I'm even making sense I feel like I'm just justfying my utter drive to put them as bros instead of shipping them'. Personally, I don't ship them because they are TOO ALIKE in personality, I mean I CANT EVEN DECIDE WHO IS GONNA BE THE SEME with them both. So yeah, that's the end of the story, 'why kicchin likes the GOM as Kurokocchi's big bros'_

 _AND THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEEEEWED *cries a metric tons of tears* I LOVE YOU GUYS TO THE MOON AND BACK, I LOVE YOU AS MUCH AS AOMINE LOVES HIMSELF! So I wont keep you guys for too long, here's chapter 3 and I hope you like it. KEEP SMILING YOU GORGEOUS CREATURES and DONT FORGET TO REVIEW_

 _guten tag babies_

 **Chapter 3: BEAST**

"It was fucking simple you airheads!" The man exclaimed at the three men there, huffing as he kicked the table. His suite and get up didn't fit the place where they stood, a local bar, with loud music and blinking neon lights. The three exchanged looks and frowned. It should have been perfect, they were hiding so well, and no one should have seen them from where they were hiding, from an untrained eyes they wouldn't mean anything. But out of the blue, the very moment the trigger was pulled, Kagami was pulled down by _someone_ but they weren't able to see the face of the hindrance to their mission. They were paid almost five hundred Yen to bring down a high school brat and yet they couldn't. Was it really just a lucky strike for the heir of Tiger and Dragon company, or something else? "Get your shit back or else fucking kill you all and drop your bodies down the river, do you fucking understand?"

The three nodded. "Yes sir." They all said in unison. The man standing before them, Jumon Watanabe, is a 30 years old arms dealer and smuggler, the man tried to use of the Tiger and Dragon Company to get his goods slid down the ports in Tokyo but the man behind the company was quick to sense this issuing a tip to the local polices about his business. They had to go underground and lose a few contacts due to this, and Jumon wasn't someone who likes being interrupted, much less by a man whom all his life lived with a silver spoon in his mouth. It was irritating how someone like him didn't need to struggle with life, like he never get to feel how was it to crawl in the mud. In revenge the man kidnapped the man's only son a few years ago, but the stupid plan got easily busted, so the man swore, this time he wont fail.

Jumon flopped down on the couch with eyebrows furrowed, why won't things go the way it should? Why were his men such an airhead? First someone spotted them, two Kagami Taiga is still alive, just how much of a disaster they could bring in? Grabbing the bottle of wine from the ice bucket, he poured himself a glass of the liquor. Just as he was sipping the wine he heard a loud knock from the door, gesturing to one of his men to get the door the man stood and answered the door with a gun in his back.

As soon as the door opened Jumon recognized the man standing there, it was the bar manager, with his tattoo filled arms, and shaved bald hair and a sly smirk. Jumon waved his men away giving the man a way, "Kirisagi!" the arms dealer exclaimed chuckling, "What's gotten into you, do you have something for me?"

"Ah, yeah." The man said before turning around and pulled something—or more precisely someone in, Jumon's eyes widen as he found a small frail figure was being pulled by the arm by Kirisagi. Jet black hair that reached down those small hips, and that snowy white skin, then a piercingly cold as winter blue eyes stared back at Jumon. Jumon smiled at the fierceness of those eyes, beautiful, it was the first thing that registered to his mind as he saw that face. It was small, the makeup was barely visible except for the red gloss of those supple looking lips. The black haired woman wore a long light blue dress, with slits in its side just above her knees. "Got you our newest addition to the team. " the man shoved the girl to the floor causing her to fall unceremoniously on the floor, her black hair was contrasting the red carpet like ash to a red petal of the rose, Kirisagi smiled and left quickly closing the door behind them.

Jumon smirked at the sight. It isn't a rare occurrence that Kirisagi would _lend_ him his girls, but this one was surely special, he thought. Skin white as fine as ivory, and those small frail looking legs, and thoat hair black as the Asia's famous black pearl, the girl raised her head slightly hair falling in front of her delicate face, and revealing those mesmerizing blue orbs, like zircon. These kind of beauty would sell for high price, and he bet his ass he was one lucky bastard to get to touch this kind of gem. Standing from his seat Jumon slowly approached the girl before roughly grabbing her chin, and the dark strands of her hair moving away to reveal the most beautiful sight he had laid his eyes on.

"Hm, you're one fucking hottie." He said as a sly smile spreading in his lips. The blue eyes stared at him making his smirk wider, it was the first time he didn't see any anxiousness in a woman's eyes in his hands. How overly confident can she get? "You got some nerves to stare at me like that, huh?"

Then the blue eyes closed slowly, and when they opened again it was staring at him but this time something told Jumon this isnt what should happen. Then he realized a movement in those thin arms, "Did you know," she started in a low voice, "they said you can hide a lot of things underneath a woman's beautiful clothes?"

 _BANG! CRASH!_

Jumon didn't have enough time to react when he saw the fast movement, then he heard a loud gun shot and everything went dark, the last thing he saw was the almost glowing blue eyes before it faded in the darkness as well.

"Fuck! Get the fucking girl!" he exclaimed to his men but he was too late—

 _BANG!_

 _BANG!_

 _BANG!_

There were three gunshots and sounds of bodies falling to the floor, Jumon staggered back. "HEY!" he called but none of his men replied he tried to fish his phone from his pocket but it wasn't there, he gasped as he tried to remember where he placed it, then it clicked to him—he left it in the table. His feet quickly searched for any signs of the table's feet but he failed and stumbled on the carpeted floor. His eyes widen as he heard a sigh, then he saw something…a light, blinking he realized a hand was holding up his phone.

"They say…" an unfamiliar voice rung in the room, "people easily get frightened in the darkness, because our sense of sight is removed, the uncertainty brought by our inability to see what is happening around causing our other senses to become hypersensitive, we become vulnerable to suggestions brought by others who could see, and by the small noises, the feelings of movement around us, it becomes very quick for us to assume things from this, our brain tries to compensate by generating images in our mind…unfortunately, I could say human brain are quite cynical, or sadistic, so we generate the worst case scenario ideas…" Jumon gulped as he backed away, his phone fell to the floor and somehow provided a small light to show the person standing there. Light blue dress…slender frame, and dark hair that reached her hips, and a gun in hand. Why…her voice is…deeper?

"P-Please. D-don't s-shoot me, h-how much d-d-do you want?" Jumon said voice trembling, how can this person even see in this darkness, and did she just shot three of his men, his trained men all by herself? Just what the hell is happening, his eyes widen as a monotonous, dry laughter erupted from those lips, using the back of her hand she wiped off the red gloss off her lips, despite the smudge, she still looked perfect, but what made Jumon gasped was when her free hand traveled up to her hair…and pulled it off. "Wha…"

"I don't like it when people gets in my way." the black mop of wig fell to the floor, "I don't take lightly when someone else tried to get my prey. I'm very possessive."

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.

.

 _BANG!_

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.

 _"_ _I told you to call me Mother, yes?"_

 _The pair of similar blue eyes stared at the woman across him, the elegant woman smiled sweetly. Today was a very special day, every time of year she never failed to come over to greet the boy. Kuroko wondered why would she actually go this far for a frail child in her care? He was lucky enough that the woman let him take his name, he was lucky that he was being sheletered here, but above all that she let him said treat her as his Mother. Something he thought he didn't have, a family. "Come, I have a present for you." She said before placing a chest above the low table and pushing the wooden box towards him._

 _"_ _You didn't have to, Mother." He said, but honestly he was very happy._

 _The woman shook her head smiling, "Come on, open it."_

 _Kuroko nodded and opened the wooden box, his eyes widen in awe, it was a beautifully crafted katana, the sheath had a silver dragon in it, the handle was black and blue. He trailed his fingertips on the intricate dragon design almost with a care he didn't know he had. "Its…beautiful." He said smiling before looking at the woman and bowing his head, "Thank you very much Mother, I am very grateful!"_

 _"_ _Tetsuya?"_

 _"_ _Yes Mother?"_

 _"_ _Use that to protect the ones you love."_

 _._

 _._

 _._

"Oi."

Kuroko bolted up as soon as he heard Kagami's voice, blinking he realized he was in the library. He looked around and realized it was already noon. He remember coming there to read but sleep took over as soon as he situated himself. The job last night somehow drained his body from his remaining stamina. He brushed his eyes off from sleep before looking up at Kagami. "You didn't go to class." Kagami said before dropping a few papers in front of Kuroko. He realized he didn't feel cold despite the fact he was in the library which most often was the coldest place in the whole campus, then he realized he was wearing the jacket Kagami lend him the day before, the sleeves almost covered his small hands. What the hell came to him and wore the jacket?

"Hey, something wrong?" Kagami asked, Kuroko's eyes widen as he saw Kagami inching closer, his eyes widen as he felt a warm palm against his forehead, he blinked in confusion as he stared at the taller male, "You don't have a fever but…" Kagami retracted his hand, "if you're still not feeling well you should just have stayed home, and why did you took your bandages off already?"

This…

Kuroko blinked as Kagami continued to blabber.

 _He…is he worrying?_

 ** _"_** ** _Tetsuya, come on now, I told you already, your skin is very delicate, you'll bleed easily like that, you have to take an extra care of—"_**

"Yourself." Kagami blinked, Kuroko's spacing out he thought as the blue eyes stared back at him without any reactions. "You sure you're okay?"

Kuroko bit his lower lip, what is he thinking, he shouldn't be comparing Kagami to his mother, he's a threat to his brother. This kind of thoughts would make him hesitate later on, something that he shouldn't possess. Kagami suddenly sat on the chair across Kuroko making the teal haired assassin looked at the crimson haired boy. "I…I'm alright, you do not have stay." Kuroko said quietly as he decided to look over the papers brought by the other. He didn't have to do this, Kuroko said all over again, he's doing this because he think he's in debt, right?

"I don't have anything to do anyways." Kagami said as he watch the boy flipping through the notes. He asked Furihata for his notes just to get something for Kuroko, he deemed the boy didn't really want to miss a day in class, he must have a good reason for not coming to class. Kagami felt guilty, this was all his fault anyways, Kuroko saved his life, and if he wasn't such a trouble magnet the other wouldn't have to deal with a bleeding head. There wasn't really much interesting thing going on, aside from the class preparing for the upcoming school fest, he could care any less. The girls had been egging him to agree on the stage play thingy on the condition he would be the Prince Charming, and that is totally out of his expertise. He'd rather sleep in the library than hear the rest of it. Drifting his eyes at Kuroko, he realized the boy was wearing his jacket, somehow it looked big in small frame, it looked like he could drown on the material, the sleeves reached almost the tips of his fingers.

"You're staring."

Kagami blinked and realized what he was doing and quickly turned away scratching his cheek awkwardly, "Sorry, I-I just thought you were wearing m-my jacket."

"Oh, did you want it returned, I'm sorry I went ahead of myself—"

"Ah, n-no, i-its alright, I j-just thought the color suites you."

Kuroko looked at the red stripped against the white of the uniform in the sleeves, "I didn't think Kagami-kun would have an eye for those kinds of things."

"Maybe you should try basketball." He said leaning against his chair, "Do you know how to play?"

Kuroko blinked, basketball…ah, yes that sport of course. "I…don't think I'll make a very excellent player." He said looking at his hands, he had small hands, very frail body as well, what could he do that will actually be useful in that sport? All he was good is handling a gun and killing people. "I could barely shoot, my sense of trajectory is quite skewed as well when it comes to ball games, I'm not really sure you're asking the right person on joining your team."

Kagami yawned loudly before dropping his arms on the table and propping his chin in his folded arms staring at the blue haired guy before him, "Nah, anyone can play." He said simply before giving him a toothly grin, "Ah, I know, you could try misdirection, you know?"

"Mis…direction?"

"Yeah, it's a cool trick in the court, well I can't really teach you that, 'cause that's some angry cool skills exclusive for some people." Kagami stated simply, "You don't have to be really quick or strong, or good in shooting, you just got to pass."

"Pass the ball?"

"Yeah, and you know some people think that's lame, but I think its cool." Kuroko stared at Kagami's eyes as he spoke, somehow they were very captivating, they look so alive, so true. That kind of honesty is very dangerous to possess, yet he held them right in the open, just what kind of person is Kagami Taiga? He looked so oblivious of the way Kuroko was watching him as he continued to speak, he barely seems to care if the other could catch up with whatever he is saying yet they were aflame of a kind of genuine interest it was almost envious. Kuroko wished he could speak about something with that kind of fervour, with the same eyes. "I mean, they're like magicians on court."

Kuroko nodded, "It does sound magical."

Kagami raised a brow, before raising a hand over his lips, "Pfft—"

"Ah!" Kuroko frowned, "Did you just laughed at me?"

"Magical, seriously?" Kagami said chuckling, "Don't tell me you draw unicorns and rainbows at the back of your notebook as well."

"What's wrong with my choice of words, I'd rather have those than Kagami-kun's filthy set of vocabulary."

Kagami laughed, "You…" he paused staring at Kuroko, the teal haired boy's eyes widen for fracture of second as the change in those crimson eyes didn't went pass his observant eyes. They were frighteningly warm all of a sudden, and the way those eyes soften like a luke warm water splashed to a sore muscle made his chest tight. Slowly Kagami sunk half of his face in his folded arms, but Kuroko could see that small smile in those eyes, but it wasn't the kind of mischevious smile, but a serene smile. "You're just like a small child." He said with gentle voice, there wasn't any insult in that, but rather filled with endearment that he barely recognize. A kind of endearment he never had from someone who barely know him.

Kuroko stared as Kagami completely buried his head in his arms and he was back again in the silence of the library. Kuroko bit his lip, no, this wasn't okay. He should never let this come to him, he shouldn't let this affect him, was he really this inexperienced with human contact, that he gets easily swayed? It was frightening, kindness is. Kuroko stared at the crimson locks that looked rather unruly. Does he even brush his hair, he thought. Unconsciously his hand reached to those strands, his eyes widen as he was only inch closer to touching his hair— _What…am I doing?_ The question was left unanswered as his hand slowly fell on top of those crimson strands. It wasn't as rough as he thought, he slowly moved his hands and twirled a few strands in his index finger.

"Mn." Kuroko froze as he heard Kagami's voice, but instead of shaking the hand off the crimson haired basketball player leaned against his touch, the unconscious movement from the other caused Kuroko's heart to actually skipped a beat. "What…are you doing?" the voice was muffled and lazily.

"Nothing." Kuroko said as he continued brushing his hair with his hand. He didn't know but stopping would end him in a more awkward situation.

"Mn, 'kay." Was the lazy response, "…continue."

Kuroko's eyes widen…his hand trembled slightly. How can he be so comfortable in his hand, this hand that held a balde, a gun, had been soaked in blood for countless of times? How…can he sleep with a hand of a killer resting on top of it? How dangerously oblivious was this boy?


	5. Chapter 5

_HI GUUUYS SORRY FOR THE DELAY! I was supposed to uploas this an hour or two earlier however a guy lost his stuffs in the public transport while I was on my way home, I had ro run after him to return them, actually I lost him on the way but luckily there was an ID with an address with his stuffs and Iwas able to retyrn it. So yes that is most of it, ans now I am uploading thisbefore I battle with ZOOLOGY exams. Sorry if I cant mention my lovely reviewers right now 'cause I'm kinda in a hurry but dont worry, I AM DILIGENTLY READINGTHEM ALWAYS. So keep them coming, okay? I MISSED YOUUUYS!_ **  
**

 _So yeah hope you like chapter 4! And please review mon ami~~!_

 **Chapter 4: Fear**

Kuroko attended the class the next day, he was late for the first class but luckily the teachers didn't notice his thin presence coming in the room late. Sitting at his usual seat he noticed the chair in front of him is vacant. Blinking in confusion he suddenly wondered if Kagami was late as well. Putting his bag on the side of the table he remembered the jacket inside the bag. He should return it now convincing himself that there was no need of keeping it. He sniffed feeling his nose a bit itchy. Thinking about, he realized he woke feeling quite heavy himself. Maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Well, nothing than a nap couldn't help, right? The next few minutes, Kuroko was slowly drifting to sleep in his desk oblivious of whatever algorithm their teacher was talking about. After all, he had learned them back in the house. Nijimura had taught him well.

Slowly his consciousness fell into the darkness.

 _"Tetsuya…"_

 _The small child look up and found a familiar figure standing not quite far from the garden watching. The small teal haired boy quickly found himself smiling. Just like every time she visited him, she was wearing a kimono, she looked very sophisticated in the traditional clothes. She smiled at him arms outstretched. The small boy ran to her but stopped a feet away from her, she smiled and pulled him to her arms. "Mother." He complained, "I am sweaty."_

 _The woman chuckled and kissed the temple of the child, "Oh, do not be silly Tetsuya." She said, "I have missed you so much, such things cannot hinder me from engulfing my little boy in a hug."_

 _Tetsuya looked up at her and smiled. "But Mother I am no longer little!"_

 _"Yes, yes, I see that." She chuckled and ruffled his hair, "How was your practice?"_

 _"I think I did better." He said looking back at the garden where the dummies were sliced gracefully in half. "What do you think Mother?"_

 _She smiled, "I'm so proud of you, my boy."_

Kuroko blinked out his sleepiness when he thought he heard a loud ringing nearby, raising his head he realized it was already lunch break. He quietly yawned, before looking around, his classmates were making the run out of the room while he sat there. He groaned as he felt his head even heavier, that's not supposed to happen right? He suddenly had the urge to spend the whole day in that seat not moving or getting up at all. He looked straight ahead and for a fracture of second saw Kagami's back facing him before he realized it was actually empty. Silly, what on earth is he thinking? Just because he is being nice it changes everything else. Speaking of which, why isn't he in his seat yet? Kuroko remembered suddenly he need to give Kagami his jacket. He'd be damn if he forget it again. He took the item in his bag that was in clear plastic. Convincing himself it was very unhygienic he made sure to _thoroughly_ clean the jacket. It was sparkling white now.

He stood up but for a moment he fell his head spin, thankfully he was able to stood up straight. He looked around to find anyone who might know where the crimson haired male is, and then he spotted a familiar brunette sneaking in holding a lunch box in hand, he was even wearing his the Seirin basketball t-shirt, Kuroko blinked, so he was actually in the basketball club? Walking towards the familiar face, Kuroko tried to scan his memories of this student's name—"Ah, Furihata-kun." He said, he felt a cough coming out. He covered his lips with his hand and coughed.

Furihata who saw the teal haired boy suddenly appearing in his side almost yelp but quickly turned to concern when the boy coughed, "A-Are you okay?" he asked. Kuroko composed himself and nodded excusing himself.

"Apologies, Furihata-kun, is Kagami-kun absent?" He asked.

"Ah, no, he's in the gym," Furihata answered, "You didn't know? We're practicing for a practice match with Kaijo next week so we're excused for the morning class."

"Oh, I see." He said meekly. So that was why he wasn't in the morning class. "Do you think I may be able to speak with him?"

Furihata blinked and laughed, "Why are you so formal, you almost sound like a young master. But yeah, sure, we're on break." Furihata noticed the clear plastic bag in Kuroko's hand and the neatly folded Seirin jersey jacket. He blinked, oh…wait…today the only one who didn't have a windbreaker was—"Ah, is that Kagami-kun's?"

Kuroko nodded, "Yes, I…he lend me his a few days ago," he said quietly. "he might be needing them."

"Nah, Kagami-kun's really nice, he wouldn't. But you should come there down the gym, he usually stays there."

"He doesn't eat lunch?"

"Uh…well he does sometimes, but not today I think."

Kuroko nodded, "Thank you." He said bowing, "I'll go ahead then."

Kuroko left the classroom and went down the gym, he saw a few students in loitering in the way. He wondered for a moment what is Kagami's position in the team. He sound like someone who'd be a good player. Somehow, he made him just _a bit_ interested in basketball, the crimson haired man make it sound so fun. Well thinking about it, even frivolous things, it seems like he could make it sound fun and exciting. The gym wasn't too far, Kuroko noticed, he looked ahead and saw the gym, Seirin isn't that big as well. He wondered why Kagami chose Seirin, of all other schools he could have attended, a school with poor security personnel to accommodate the son and heir of large company. Well, on the other hand, Seirin would be the least susceptible place to find a heir, right? What was behind Kagami's obliviousness, he wondered, surely he isn't that quick trusting, right? He was kidnapped when he was younger, a constant target of his father's enemies' anger. What could be behind all those? Is that just a façade?

Kuroko reached the gym, there was a sound of chattering and he saw a tall man leaving, he had a mop of dark brown locks and a carefree smile plastered in his face. Kuroko blinked as the man stared at him—he…noticed him instantly? He bowed as he realized the man must be an upperclassman. The man gave a laugh and waved in dismissal.

"Eh, I haven't seen you around before," the guy said. Kuroko noticed he was wearing the Seirin basketball uniform. "eh, you looking for something?"

Kuroko bowed his head again, "I'm from class Kagami Taiaga-kun's class, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya, yes I'm a news student." He said, "I'm actually looking for him."

The taller man laughed, "Ah, good, he's inside." He said pointing at the gym, "Is that his jacket in your hand?"

Kuroko nodded, "Yes, he lend it to me and I thought I have to return them, he might need them."

Kiyoshi's eyes turned to the material in the boy's hand. But his eyes darted somewhere else—the boy's hands. He squinted his eyes in inspection but quickly brought back his carefree smiling face. "Then you should get in, he needs someone to remind him its lunch break anyways, he might start fuming out anytime soon from overworking." He started walking off and waved at the teal haired boy, "Do us a favour and stop him from over doing it, okay?"

Kuroko nodded and watched the man left. Turning towards the school gym, Kuroko peeked and saw a few members of the basketball team cleaning up. He scanned the gym and decided to step in. His eyes landed quickly on a dark haired man sitting on the bench, without further ado he walked towards him. Calling the man's attention by speaking didn't seem to work and he decided to tap him in the shoulder, causing the man to almost jump out of his skin. The man yelp in surprise as he stare incredulously at him holding his chest, and blinking a few times.

"What the!" he said wide eyed, "Where'd you come from?"

Kuroko bowed his head in apology, "Sorry, uhm I'm looking for Kagami Taiga-kun." He said, he felt his throat getting itchy again. He cleared his throat before continue speaking, "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya."

"Ah, you're Kagami's friend?" The man asked, "Ah, I'm Izuki, by the way."

"Nice to meet you…uh…senpai?"

"Yep, I'm third year now, you're first year too?"

"I'm on the same class as Kagami-kun."

"Kagami- _kun_ , huh, well that's new." He said chuckling, "Coach someone looking for Kagami!"

Kuroko looked around for someone _coach_ looking. Old, big built, man, but what ran to their side wasn't anywhere near that description, a petite, short haired auburn _girl_. She was holding clipboard in hand and obviously oblivious of Kuroko's presence, "Who?" the girl asked raising an eyebrow, "Did the idiot finally got a girlfriend?"

Izuki raised a hand and pointed at Kuroko. "I don't think it's a girlfriend, coach."

The coach slowly turned to Kuroko and gasped in surprise, she blinked before her eyes suddenly went sparkling, "Eh! Who's this?" she asked, "He looks so cute!"

"He's looking for Kagami, coach."

"My name is Kuroko Tetsuya," he bowed his head, "It's a pleasure meeting you."

"Oh, I'm the coach, Aida Riko." She said with a smile, "Are you a new kid, I haven't seen you before."

"Yes, I've recently enrolled." Kuroko answered.

"Oh, yeah, wait, I'll go call Kagami." Izuki said before he jogged away. Aida was left to Kuroko, she smiled as she saw the neatly folded jacket in Kuroko's hand. Ah, so that's what Kagami was saying earlier, if she wasn't mistaken, the guy Kagami lend his jacket to was the kid that supposedly saved him from the incident a few days ago. Aida raised a brow, this kid…saved Kagami's ass from that incident? He looked at the pale boy, does he even eat properly, he looks so scrawny and he looks anemic.

"So what do you think of Kagami?"

Kuroko blinked at the sudden question. What he think of Kagami? What does he think of him? The simple question brought thousands of conflicting answers in his head. Kind, gentle, spontaneous, strong willed—but every single of those didn't fit the puzzle where he was putting Kagami. That wasn't was supposed to be the things he would be thinking when he asked about Kagami. He is the judge, and Kagami is the accused and his brother is the victim. Kind, was that really what he should be thinking of him? Suddenly he felt his head throbbed painfully, he winced, luckily in time that Aida turned towards somewhere muttering something. When his senses cleared he realized Izuki jogging with a grin in his face.

"Ah, here he is!"

Kuroko looked up and found Kagami in a black basketball shorts and while shirt. His eyes fell to Kuroko instantly, and shock evident in his face. "Wha—hey what are you doing here?" Kagami asked. Kuroko bowed his head in greeting, the gesture made Kagami automatically return the gesture.

"Eh, why, are you perhaps hiding something?" Aida teased before giggling, "You made your _friend_ wait, Bakagami."

"Oi! You've been saying that quite a lot!" the basketball team's ace complained blushing at the suggestive manner Aida said those word, "And I-I'm not h-hiding anything!"

"Ooh, did I hear the _great_ Kagami Taiga, stutter a moment there?"

"S-Stop it coach!"

The two upperclassmen laughed among themselves, "Ah, well, you better go and at least treat you _friend_ to lunch." Aida said before lightly pushing the tall male by the shoulder towards the smaller boy. "After all he went all the way here."

"Ah, there is no need thank you—"

"Its alright." Kagami said blushing as he turned to Aida side glancing, damn all her suggestive side track comments. "I-I mean i-its lunch a-and, uhm, have you eaten yet?"

"I wasn't planning actually—"

"HA?" Both Kagami and Aida gaped before they both sputtered all at once of the reasons why he shouldn't skip lunch, Kuroko stared at them almost like a comedic duo. Izuki was suppressing a laugh in the side and shrugging. As if saying he should start getting used to those two. Aida grabbed his shoulders staring at his eyes, "That's why you're so scrawny! You should take care of your health!" Kuroko almost found himself smiling, he sounded like a mother hen just then.

"Just let it go Kuroko, she would not shut up until you do what she wants." Izuki said chuckling.

"But look, he needs to eat! He's so small already, are you even alright like that?" Aida exclaimed.

"I-I think I'm alright a—"

"Nonesense, come on Kagami, make sure he eats alright?"

Kagami shook his head, "Yeah, yeah," he turned to Kuroko and smiled.

Kuroko's eyes widen as he felt his heart did an aero back flip at that smile. How can he simply smile like that? He felt heat creeping in his cheek, he suddenly felt self-conscious. And it takes more than will power to make a Kuroko feel self-conscious, a beautiful, stunning creature be self-conscious, a creature whom from birth had known their beauty. Yet under that smile he felt so shy, bright and warm, and what was he again?

"I'll just get my stuff at the back, can you wait for me?" Kagami asked and Kuroko meekly nodded feeling a bit lightheaded to answer vocally.

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 _"Nijimura-san?" the younger Kuroko walked towards his guardian one day, it was raining. Its been a week since his Mother last visisted. It was almost strange, she always made it a point to visit him once every week, or at least send a letter, but the past few days he had not heard of her. The big house had felt more gloomier without her, without her voice. The man looked up from his desk and watched as the boy stood there in the doorway._

 _"Come on in." he said gesturing the boy to come closer. The younger Kuroko walked to the man, "Have a sit."_

 _Kuroko bowed his head and sat on the chair looking at his uncle. The man is his Mother's half brother, but he had been in the household had taken him in. When Akashi Tetsumi is away, Nijimura was the one who took the responsibility of taking care of him. The man was like a father that he never met. It was rare that he actually walked to his office. But today was a lot more difficult for him, he hasn't seen his assumed Mother, and not a news was given to him. Nijimura stood from his seat and walked towards the boy before kneeling down and holding the small hands in his. The small hands that in its early age had been filled with cuts and callouses from learning all those weapons, a hand that supposedly the reflection of his innocence was no longer. Instead was a reflection of the hideous world where he had been brought up to, the world where mercy was for the weak, the death awaits those who fail._

 _"Kuroko," he said, a sad smile was in his lips. Kuroko was always treated differently even though he was a child brought by Akashi Kuroko Tetsumi in the household out of pity, he was treated as if he was really the son of the second daughter of the former head of the household. Nobody ever was allowed to call him by his first name as sign of respect of his position in the family. Kuroko didn't understand but he chose not to comment about it. He wanted to know why he was treated specially when with all honestly he was just an anomaly. "I want you to listen to me very carefully, alright. I know you're a very intelligent boy, so I know you would understand."_

 _"Under…stand, what Nijimura-san?"_

 _Nijimura closed his hand brought the small hand close to his head, Kuroko could feel the man tremble._

.

.

.

"Kuroko?"

Kuroko's eyes snapped open, he blinked his heavy eyelids and realized he had fallen asleep while waiting for Kagami, he was sitting in a bench outside the gym. "Uh…I'm sorry I…fell asleep."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Kagami raised an eyebrow, is Kuroko really like this? He saw him sleeping yesterday at the library so maybe he's just naturally sleepy? "did I make you wait that long?"

Kuroko shook his head and standing up, "No, I…it's just the weather I think." He said before yawning almost like a kitten. Kagami smiled and hummed before reaching to ruffle those soft looking teal locks. If he didn't knew better he'd say he's a girl. Kuroko groaned in protest as he tried to pry off those hands, "Kagami-kun that's not nice, its not easy to fix my hair."

"Don't care," Kagami said as he gestured Kuroko to follow him, while walking Kuroko noticed the big take out bag in Kagami's hand. Kagami was humming something while they walked towards the school yard, luckily they still have half an hour to have lunch. Kuroko noticed the man had well…nice voice. His humming a melody that Kuroko isnt familiar with, well, honestly, he has barely much an idea about music anyways. He didn't even know what he know aside from killing and investigating people.

"What are you humming?" kuroko found himself asking, well there is no harm in asking yes?

"Huh? Oh _She Will Be Loved_." Kuroko's eyes widen at Kagami's perfect English, he felt almost inferior, he had been studying English ever since but his English was nowhere near perfect. "What's up?"

"I'm jealous, you're so good in pronouncing in English."

"Ah, I lived in America for a few years so, maybe that."

"I don't know much about music," Kuroko said honestly.

"Eh? Like seriously, nothing?"

"No, I do have a few in mind like Mozart."

"HA?" Kagami exclaimed in disbelief, "Like how old are you, 60?"

"He's classic Kagami-kun, respect."

"Classic my ass, that's why you sound like an old man."

"You hurt my feelings."

"YOU DON'T SOUND LIKE IT!"

After a few more bickering and nonsense argument, they arrived in the school yard. The two settled on the shade of an oak tree, Kuroko sat in a seiza while Kagami sat crossed legged in the grass as he settled the paper bag between them. Kuroko curiously peaked as Kagami one by one emptied the contents in the grass, Kuroko's eyes raised at the number of burgers Kagami settled in between them. Blinking, he counted them, twenty five burgers? Who east twenty five burgers for lunch? Then he settled two drinks. Just how much can this guy eat, this is just lunch, Kuroko thought. He could swear he has the biggest appetite of all people he had ever met.

Kuroko's eyes widen as Kagami picked up one and tossed it to him, Kuroko despite his confusion quickly caught the food. "You need to eat, you're a bit too small." Kagami said as he unwrapped his first burger and started eating. Kuroko stared at the food in his hand. When was the last time someone ever asked about how much he eats. When was the last time someone became this forceful about his well being? It had been too long he could barely remember.

"Something wrong?" Kagami asked.

"No." Kuroko said, unwrapping the burger, Kuroko started eating. Well it wasn't as bad as he thought. It was his first time eating something from a fast food, and he has to admit it wasn't as bad. It is tasty actually. He took another small bite before he saw Kagami handing him a drink.

"Here," he said. Kuroko felt embarrassed, Kagami was practically treating him to lunch by this. He had never been treated to a lunch before, by a classmate. For years he has been schooled inside the house, he didn't have any classmate and his lunch were cooked at home. This was the first time he actually attended a proper school. Kuroko meekly accepted the drink. "It the best seller in that fast food down the street.

Kuroko read the cup, _Maji_. Oh, that small fast food chain, he's familiar with that it is always bustling with high school kids after class, he didn't know Kagami would like those things as well. Out of habit, Kuroko slightly lift the lid and smelled the contents, well there isn't anything that smells out of place. His attention was called by a muffled laugh across him, pouting Kuroko raised his head and found the basketball player laughing against the back of his hand. Forget about his charming smile—he is laughing at _him_. Nobody laughs at a Kuroko, taking a small pebble in the grass, Kuroko threw it at the oblivious idiot across him, making him stop.

"HEY!" he protested, "That hurts, what did you threw at me?"

"Why are you even laughing?"

Kagami gave him a toothy grin making the smaller male blush, damn, curse him and his face. No, no, this must be just the effect of the hot weather or—or the lack of sleep…right? As if he could actually admire his broad shoulders and muscular physique, and his defined jaw line, and those crimson fiery eyes, right? "You looked like a small animal back then," he said before eating the rest of his eight burger, "why do you even smell it?"

"I-Its…a bad habit of mine."

"Yeah sure."

After a few comfortable moment of silence Kuroko finally finished eating his share and decided to give Kagami his jacket. Kagami was almost done with his food as well, to Kuroko's utter surprise he was actually able to finish them all.

"Thank you." Kuroko said handing the plastic to the taller male, "I'm sorry for taking too long to return them."

"Ah, its alright." Kagami said awkwardly not really know what to say. "They look really new."

"I thought it would be rude if I don't wash them and besides I—"

"Eh, you washed them yourself?"

"Yes is there a matter?"

"Its very…well it looks like it was laundry cleaned. Wow, you do chores on your own?"

"Yes, I learned to do them, I thought it wouldn't be nice for someone my age not to know simple things such as washing clothes."

"Ah I agree!"

"You do chores your own too Kagami-kun?"

"Yeah." He said proudly, "I don't think I like asking someone to actually do them for me."

Kuroko didn't know why but he somehow had known that side of Kagami, someone independent, someone that would rather do it on his own than be treated especially. "It does sound like Kagami-kun." He said.

Kagami shrugged. "Ah, hey, are you going back to class?"

"Yes." Kuroko said remembering the time. He stood but as soon as he did, he realized his body felt heavier. He stopped trying to remain balanced in his feet.

"I'll walk you there, I kinda had something to talk with the teachers too." Kagami said. Kuroko nodded and they both started to walk out from the yard.

Kuroko followed Kagami as the taller male walked ahead of him. He didn't like this, he doesn't feel good at all. His feet felt like they just gained extra hundred pounds, and his head wasn't helping. Things was starting to sound muffled and he was struggling to make sense of the things around him. At least he could still see Kagami's back. His cheeks feels warmer, and his breath felt a degree higher. Damn, he cursed mentally. They were on closing in towards the stairs, Kuroko prayed he could stay conscious till they reach the class, he could just sleep this in. That'll make it better, he thought.

Kagami had taken the first flight of the steps when he heard something behind him, remembering Kuroko was supposed to be walking behind him, he turned and immediately panicked. His eyes fell to the unconscious boy laying in his side on the floor. "Oi!" he called but there was no response, he quickly ran to his side and shook him up, he didn't stir at all. Kagami's noticed the boy was sweating madly and breaths were shallow. "Fuck." He cursed, he quickly put his hand over the boy's head and panic arose in him, he was not just _warm_ he was burning. "Oi, Kuroko wake up!"

His loud voice had called the attention of a few people around them, making them whisper about each other. Kagami groaned, why wont anyone damn help, why is everyone just staring? Losing hope that anyone would actually help, Kagami quickly slung Kurko's limp arm over his shoulder while he placed an arm under his knees before lifting him and carrying him to the school clinic.

.

.

.

 _"Your Father is Akashi Seiichiro."_

 _The young Kuroko blinked at the words spilled out of his uncle's lips, "Nijimura-san that is impossible, Akashi Seiichiro-san is Mother's lawfully wedded husband, and he has only a single son to Mother. And that is not me, isn't that Akashi Seijuuro?"_

 _"No." Nijimura shook his head, "That is why, I am very sorry. We lied."_

 _"What…do you mean Nijimura-san?"_

 _"Its for your sake," Nijimura said, "The Akashii family has a very strict tradition, Tetsumi and Seiichiro were frightened of what the family might do to you if they found out the truth. Tetsumi and Seiichiro are your_ _ **real**_ _biological parents. Akashi Seijuuro is your brother. Your…twin brother."_

 _"M-My…brother…then why?" Kuroko choked in the supressed sobs, "W-Why did you h-hide…why did M-Mother…why did she left me? A-Am I u-unwanted, Nijimura-san please tell me, does Mother doesn't want me, F-Father as well."_

 _"Listen, they love you so much." Nijimura said, his heart was shattered at the face of his nephew, a small child crying and asking if his parents does not want him. "Tetsumi and Seiichiro loved you that was why they have to be away from you, that was why they hid you. If they didn't, if the Akashi family knew you and your brother are twins they will kill you."_

 _"Why only now? W-Where is Mother? Why isn't she the one saying this to me?"_

 _"She's dead Tetsuya."_

 _._

 _._

 _._

Kagami's eyes widen as he saw the boy on the bed stirred, he stood unsure of what to do, maybe he should call the nurse, but if he did he'll be leaving Kuroko alone, and that doesn't sound like a good idea. The teal haired guy had a high fever, probably a flu and to God knows why he still went to school. Kagami didn't know what was running in his head to come to school when he could practically lose consciousness due to that high fever, to his shock as well, the other was even able to last half of the day with a 40 degree Celsius fever. He didn't know if he will be amazed that he was able to stay up till that afternoon or will he be angry about the fact that he didn't say anything when he practically feels like hell. A wet towel lay on top of his forehead and fortunately he had at least looked better than a few hours ago. Kagami ran a hand through his hair in panic when suddenly those baby blue eyes cracked open, glazed with exhaustion.

"Hey, uhm, how are you feeling?" Kagami decided he will stay and will call the nurse if needed. Kuroko groaned and was about to reach his head when Kagami stopped him, "Don't, w-we put a wet towel to put your fever down."

"Fe…ver?"

Kagami nodded, "Yeah, the nurse thinks you have a flu or some sort."

"My…head hurts." Kuroko said, his rationality was fogged and all he understood was the throbbing in his head. He groaned, he feels like his head was slammed against a grand piano. He looked in his side and found the basketball player looking unsure and conflicted. Wait, what time is it already? "What..time is it?"

"4:20." Kagami answered, "You need water?"

Kuroko nodded. With his hazy eyes he watched as the taller male stood and took a plastic cup in the small table next to the water dispenser, he could faintly hear the water running down the cup. His ear was becoming too hypersensitive for his liking. And he could hear Kagami's footsteps coming close to him. Somehow he felt really groggy and his body felt twice its weight. Turning his head took him lots of effort. When was the last time he was sick again…alone? "Can you sit up?" He heard Kagami asked, Kuroko tried to propped himself up sideways but his elbows quickly gave in. Kagami was quickly alarmed and settled the cup in the nightstand before helping the boy to sit.

"…I'm…sorry." Kagami blinked as the teal haired boy mumbled. What is he even apologizing for? Kagami helped the boy hold the cup and drink from it. His skin looked flushed in his fever, Kagami ssomehow felt bad for the boy looking like this. He looked back to wall clock, they contacted Kuroko's guardian but after almost four hours there is still no reply. He wondered if he was even busy? "Why…are you still here?" Kuroko said as he finished drinking. Kagami settled the empty cup back in the nightstand and removed the wet towel in Kuroko's forehead.

"Uhm…Well who's gonna look after you?"

Kuroko blinked, he stayed just to look over him? "You don't have to, this will pass."

"You've been knocked down for four hours and your fever just went down by a degree and you say that'll pass?" Kagami scoffed, "And besides, where's your uhm, whose that guy again? Niji—something guy? I thought he'd be here soon to take you home."

Kuroko looked at his hands in his lap. When he was younger when he fell sick, Nijimura would come rushing from his work, rain or shine. Someone was always there to look after him, feed him porridge, stay up till midnight to wait for his fever to go down. But they were never his parents. They only cared because they knew he is Tetsumi's son. Nijimura cared so much for him, but he ran away, he betrayed his trust. Broke the path he had paved for him, a path as he said, his other would want him to take. Maybe he disappointed him and that is why he left him. He was maybe tired of trying to convince him.

"He's not coming…" he said making the taller boy cocked an eyebrow. "He won't be coming. He is…busy."

"But you're his—"

"Responsibility." Kuroko said with a tinge of bitterness. Gripping the blanket with his weak hands, he knows it, he was always just a dumped responsibility to his uncle, to everyone in the household. He was always treated secial because he is the son of the former family head's daughter. But in all honesty no one was truly there. He had been alone when his parents died. All he had now was the will to protect the only thing that he have—his twin brother. But they couldn't understand, they won't. "I'm always just…a responsibility."

"That's not true." Kuroko looked up at the other man eyes determined and piercing right at him, as if unveiling all that thick skin hiding his pale and frail soul. "You aren't _just_ a responsibility. What's with you and that self-loathing crap?"

"Why do even care?" Kuroko spat, narrowing his eyes at the taller male. Why, why does he keep sticking his nose in his business anyway? Why can't he just act like the way he should, like, like the villain of this story? Why can't he just do as what Kuroko thought he would? Why don't he leave him alone? Why does he keep saying all these words that keeps making him doubt himself? He's just an oblvious idiot, born in a stupid rich family, a threat to his brother, so why can't he act like one?

"I-I don't know!" Kagami answered, "Okay, I-I don't know. I j-just can't let you put yourself down, because probably the rest of the world does much of that already!"

Kuroko stared at Kagami. The rest of the world. What have the world done to him again? His hands trembled, he was kept away from his parents by the stupid laws of a family, a tradition with no real proof of origin or right explanation. He was torn away from his brother whom he had share nine months with inside their mother's womb just due to fear, just because of a petty fear. Just because people were afraid that one of them will be the reason of the fall of a family, their lives were torn. He didn't get to ever meet his father, and his mother he didn't even get to see her funeral. And he was perpetually away from his brother. He felt the anger boiling in his chest, his whole life, his whole sheltered life was just to keep him away. Protection? It was more of a prison. He wasn't able to go to a proper school, he didn't even had any friends.

Kagami's eyes widen as Kuroko started shaking and he lowered his head. Kagami was worried for a second when suddenly he found Kuroko's fist pounding his lap, he's…angry? He continued punching his lap and every time it was getting harder until Kagami couldn't watch it any longer and he grabbed the both of his wrist effectively stopping him.

"Stop that, what's wrong with you?"

Kagami was stunned when he heard the other growled in anger, and his eyes were filled with tears streaming down his pale cheeks. "AAAAAH!" he screamed as he wriggled off Kagami's hold, "LET GO OF ME!"

"No!" Kagami replied, "You're gonna hurt yourself!"

"I'm already broken what else am I gonna hurt?!"

"STOP!" Kagami exclaimed louder not letting go of the other's wrist. "I'm not letting go until you've calmed down!"

Kuroko struggled away from those strong grips, angry, frustrated, all the emotions mixed in him with the fever, he couldn't pull away or find a way to reverse the hold, his foggy mind wasn't helping at all. He could feel those hideous tears streaming down his face. He probably looked pathetic, he thought. But the thoughts that were plaguing his mind was worse. He screamed, wailed and whimpered against the hold in his wrist. Why cant this guy just let him be? Why can't he stop screwing with his mind? Slowly as the moment pass, his mind slowly cleared, and his anger slowly dispatched in small sobs. Kagami's gripped loosen and the taller male felt bad about the red mark left on those small wrist, he didn't mean to hold that strong but he needed to. He couldn't imagine the bruise on those his lap if he didn't stop him.

"Hey, you need calm down, okay?" Kagami said trying to sound as soothing and friendly as possible. He didn't understand those tears, or the reason for them. But this was the first time he ever saw true emotions in those cerulean eyes, unfortunately it has to be this kind of emotions—anger, frustration, pain, anguish. What else was this boy hiding behind those eyes? What else was he not telling anyone? Kuroko slowly nodded, making Kagami sigh in relief, he wasn't sure how to make people calm but he looped a hand over the boy's head and slowly pressed his head to his shoulder as he sat on the side of the clinic's bed. "You can let it all out, nobody will know."

Kagami felt Kuroko clutching the front of his shirt and before the smaller figure started shaking and he heard small and faint sobs.

.

.

.

 _"Nobody's gonna hurt you here."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5: Before it Comes**

The next thing he remembers was a muffled voice of someone speaking, and a soft material against his back, something soft draped over his shoulder and a hand resting on his shoulder as if holding him and pressing against— _is this…someone chest_? He could smell the faint scent of something like menthol and sandalwood, this scent…he wanted to open his eyes but it felt so heavy and the warmth radiating from that hand felt so comfortable. He could feel a slight vibration against his feet, it feels like as if he's riding some vehicle, a car? He tried his best to open his eyes and when he did he saw a familiar shirt, looking up he found Kagami's face which was a bit too close for his liking, his foggy mind barely understood the reason for this situation, what was he doing here, why is he here with him, where are they going? He wanted to ask all of that but his body felt heavy, his throat felt dry, nothing made sense. He found those fiery red eyes slowly turning to him, he showed an expression he hadn't seen anyone looked at him with in a long time—concern. The word felt frightening strange to him, even those fiery red eyes that radiated a kind of heat he hasn't felt before scared him, the words left unspoken behind those eyes, he wished he wouldn't speak of it. He prayed he wouldn't, because he know…if he does—

"Go back to sleep." His voice resounded like they were inside a jar or something, his head hurts, and he decided, maybe it was best that he sleeps, maybe when he wakes up, he'd realize this was all but a dream. Then he'd go back to normal, he'll continue as planned.

.

.

.

 _He had always found it amusing, his brother, his twin brother he looks just like their father, his scarlet red hair and eyes, they look just like his father's that he never had the chance of meeting. He watched him in television as he was featured in a news, the child prodigy—the heir of the Akashi Corporation. He admired the other half of his existence, what a very stunning person, he thought, he spoke sometimes almost like their mother. He was the last thing he had that he could call a family. He was the last piece left for him. He was the last piece left of that which he loved, the last piece of truth that was left for Kuroko Tetsuya. They grew apart, but he always watched from afar, from television, from news report, anything about his brother was important. It wasn't really that difficult when his brother is like an eye candy for the media, after their parents death he inherited the position in the Corporation, he was the youngest to ever handle something as large as the Akashi Corporation._

 _He watched every single telecast, every single advertisements, read every article about his brother, he knew what was fake and made up from the truth despite not having met his brother in person yet. Kuroko just knew he would, he cannot do something like those. He believed that deep within that businessman suite and attire, is brother had a heart just like their mother. Years passed, Kuroko was contented living like this, he grew understanding that his presence is more of a liability to his older twin brother, he was a shadow and shadows doesn't need to go and reveal themselves. They were nothing after all. It was alright as long as he knew he is alright._

" _Eh, why did Nijimura-san declined that one job," One day he overheard the men of the household talking, Nijimura was out then doing some job while he as usual stayed behind, he was on his way to his room to retrieve his katana and clean it when he came passing to two men speaking. He recognize them as member of the household. They didn't realize Kuroko's presence which he lacks most of the time and they continue to talk, "I heard the client paid about eight million yen, would you believe that? For a boy!"_

" _Is that true, wow, two million for a kid?" the other chuckled, "Isn't that an insane amount of money for a child?"_

" _Not just a kid, I heard it was a son of some dead rich businessman."_

 _His heart stopped as he held his breath waiting for the rest of the sentence._

" _Aka-something? I'm sure I've heard that name before though."_

 _It was then he came to wake up to the truth, without their parents around his brother were an unmoving target in the eyes of people who bears hatred. Even how good a man is, there is always someone who would harbour hatred for them. Nijimura was offered to take down the child, it was requested by someone within the Akashi family, however the man refused disguising his reason as something that he didn't want to take up, however the truth was the man didn't take it because it was his nephew, his nephew that no one knew of. It was frightening, Kuroko thought as he gaze at the photo Nijimura gave him of the Akashi family, in that photo was his mother in a white dress, something he had never seen her wear, her long blue hair was elegantly braided and tied in a bun, and adorn with small pale yellow flowers, then from the right was a man with a scarlet hair and a reserve smile, his father. The man was wearing a dark gray button up that looked very businessman like. In the middle was a splitting image of the scarlet haired man, a child wearing a short sleeved white button up shirt a smile almost like their mother was painted in his lips. Nijimura would always deny anyone who would ask a job regarding the heir of the Akashi clan with excuses, and more, however Kuroko knew how people's mind works. If they would refuse to do it, then surely they'll go fins someone who would._

 _And one day, one unfortunate day, someone who is desperate enough would say yes. And when that time comes, who…who will protect his brother from his own blood relatives? Who would protect his brother from an attack from the inside?_

 _A few more years would pass, even with constant proving his point Nijimura would say no every single time Kuroko would speak of thinking of speaking with his brother, he would say that if he would leave the household only for that reason he wouldn't approve of it. Time was running out though, Kuroko knew that as the Akashi Corporation grows bigger under him the threat to his life grew bigger, from death threats came rivals in his brother's business, those vermin who stealthily waited for an opportunity to attack his brother. He swore he'd remove them, all that stands in the way off his brother and his happiness. He'd removed them all._

 _Every single one of them._

" _Ah, that's something new." One of the house attendants said as she held the daily newspaper, she would bring Kuroko the newspaper every single day without fail, the young man had requested every single copy of the local newspaper._

" _What is?" Kuroko asked._

" _Oh uhm, this Kuroko-sama." She said smiling shyly at the boy as she pointed at the article, it was a blurry image of a young man in tinted shades, from the photo he looks tall and had a bag slung in one of his shoulder, at first glance the article looked like some paparazzi article about a celebrity by the looks of how the photo was taken, however the title said otherwise, 'Son of CEO of Tiger and Dragon Corporation Arrives in Japan!' it says printed in bold letters. Tiger and Dragon…Tiger and…Dragon, oh yes, he remember now, a few weeks ago they were reported in the news, they were one of the booming company, the company that just took five contracts out from the hands of his brother. They were proving a formidable enemy in business, if they continued like this they'd surely pose a great deal of problem with the Akashi Corporation. "I heard their son was involved in some incident a few years ago, after that he was sent to America. I thought they'd never give him the company or involve them in business, but looks like their preparing him to inherit the company."_

 _Kuroko's hand trembled thinking about it, a trump card. Their son was their trump card, they've been securing deals after one for this, for this boy. They were relying on him, that means only one thing—he is better than his parents in this field. The thought scared Kuroko, what will happen to his brother, if he becomes vulnerable people will start going for him—the thought of his brother injured made him see in all reds. This man is a threat. He will bring greater threats to his brother, at first glance a son of a rival company doesn't seem like a big deal, but Kuroko knew how business works, they wouldn't just bring him there after actively closing deals after the other against the Akashi Corporation._

 _._

 _._

 _He swore he'd never forget his name—_ _ **Kagami Taiga**_

…

Furihata sighed, he had too much in his hands—quite literally, he can't just leave Kurokos bag and Kagami as well in the classroom, but he couldn't find them. The two didn't attend the afternoon class, which was strange, shoving the stupid ideas out of his head he pulled the sling of his bag back to his shoulder as he balanced his own books in his hands while holding Kuroko's bag and Kagami's ridciculously heavy bag in his other shoulder. Damn, he gotta remind Kagami that he shouldn't bring his whole house inside his bag. As he walked out the school he briefly remembered the conversation he accidentally overheard. He didn't mean to, he was passing by when he found Kiyoshi there sitting at a random bench with Hyuuga standing before him arms crossed.

" _Hey, do you know the boy in Kagami'sa class?"_

 _Hyuuga shrugged, "Which one?"_

" _The new one," Kiyoshi hummed seemingly thinking, "I think his name's Kuroko."_

" _Huh? A new student, in the middle of the year?"_

" _Yeah, I know, strange." Kiyoshi raised his big hands to his face, "You think Kagami's okay with that boy?"_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _Something…isn't right about him."_

Furihata wondered what his _senpai_ meant by that. Why would Kiyoshi think or doubt Kuroko's company, he doesn't seem like anything dangerous at all, he saved Kagami a few days ago, what harm could he do? Besides, they look quite acquainted with each other anyway, Kagami even leant Kuroko his jacket, yesterday he even asked to borrow Furihata's notes to have them photocopied to lend to Kuroko who didn't join them in the class. If he didn't know better he'd say they were actually best friends. Well they were quite a strange pair, like _total_ polar opposites. However, honestly, it was very endearing. He wouldn't be shock if those two hangs out after school. If Kuroko wasn't so invisible, he bets he'd be as popular as Kagami with the girls. Furihata stood at the corner of the street waiting for the stoplight to change colors, for a moment he was bothered with the words Kiyoshi asked, he had been their big brother figure in the team, he had always been concerned with everyone, he never really spoke harshly of anyone in the team, he was always calm and kind, so he wondered what made him say that about Kuroko. Did he know something they don't? But if he does…what? Furihata stepped forward as he found the lights flicking and changing. As soon as soon as his feet met the asphalt, he heard a loud beeping noise, he heard a loud scream across the street, when he spun his head he found a speeding car coming fast to where he was standing.

It happened fast, Furihata saw it a few feet away, and then—

"ACK!" Furihata felt a forceful pull from the collar of his uniform, before he knew it he saw his books in the air, his feet took a quick steps backwards as he was pulled harshly. He accidentally let go of Kuroko's bag and the sudden change of momentum caused him to put all his weight in his back, and before he knew it he was falling. He fell on his buttocks as he saw the speeding car pass without regard of the stoplight, a dark blue sedan. His eyes widen as he realized his books were scattered, ruined in the street. For a moment he forgot to breathe, his heart racing with his thoughts—he…he was…saved? He turned to find his rescuer, on the side was a young man wearing a dark grey pants and white button up that look strikingly like a uniform of some exclusive school, he was propped himself up with his elbow probably he fell as well as Furihata did, he blinked and realized the trouble he caused to the man.

Furihata stood up disregarding his bag and Kagami, as he helped the man up, "Oh m-my, god, s-sorry m-mister I-I didn't mean to—"Furihata's eyes widen as his breath and words clogged in his throat as mismatched cold eyes stare back at him. They were the strangest colors and pairs of eyes he had seen. What do they call it again, when someone has different colored irises? Hetero..hetero…chro—ah, yes heterochromia. He swallowed as the man stood and dusted off his grey pants, he felt guilty about ruining the guy's pants, honestly it looks expensive.

"Are you okay?" the two suddenly asked each other in unison. The man raised a brow, the raised his hand to point at scattered things on the street, when the brunette turned he found himself shrieking in horror, Kuroko's bag will be ruined, and Kagami's as well, damn his books are in the middle of the street! Furihata clumsily picked up his bag then Kagami then he picked up Kuroko's bag before running to collect his wrecked and dusted books. which fell as he pick another. He huffed and cursed under his breath, damn, he was making fun of himself, he must have looked like some comedian now. His eyes suddenly found a hand grabbing his books from him, tracing the hands he found the guy who helped him holding them for him with unblinking eyes.

"Come on, do you want to be hit by a car again?" The man asked with his icy yet smooth voice, Furihata blushed in utter embarrassment from this as he muttered a thank you for the man. The man just srugged and walk off towards the sidewalk and Furihata followed.

"I-I'm so, so, so sorry sir!" Furihata apologized as he bowed almost in perfect ninety degrees. "I-I'm so sorry for troubling you a-and thank you for helping me."

The man gave a nod, "Its nothing, be careful next time, you have too much in your hands."

"U-Uhm t-these…uhm are my friends' stuffs, they uhm f-forgot them."

"You should have just let them get it, its not your responsibility to look after their belongings."

"E-Eh, uh…but w-were friends and…"

"Do you live nearby? Perhaps do you take the train?"

Furihata blinked, "W-Well, yes, I-I live nearby just a—"

"Then I'll walk you there then."

.

.

.

"HA?!" Furihata suddenly found himself surprised, someone is actually offering him to walk home and carry his things? "I-I mean, y-you don't n-need to y-you did a lot for already, I-I don't want to impose." He said sheepishly, damn, the guy keeps speaking like a mature adult and Furihata was speaking like a five years old who couldn't complete his sentence without stuttering. Yes, totally lame, he cursed.

"Its alright, I don't think you could take another street without dying." Honestly that was a stealth insult but Furihata let it slide, knowing the man meant well. The man then offered his other hand to Furihata making the brunette blink in confusion, "The other bag in your shoulder, I'll carry it."

"Ah, no, i-its alright!" Furihata said. The man sighed and suddenly grabbed Kagami's bag from him and slung it to his shoulder.

"Ah…its quite heavy," the man said as he fixed the sling.

"I-I told you its alright." Furihata said, "A-Are you sure i-its alright t-that you—"

"I said its fine." The man said cutting Furihata, "Does your friend bring his refrigerator in this?"

Furihata chuckled, "I thought the same, I don't think so though, his shoes are just quite heavy and he always brings too many extra shirt for practice."

"Practice?" The man asked.

"Yeah, b-basketball." Furihata said shyly, "I-I may not look like it b-but I-I play."

The man hummed, "That's good, we might see each other in the court sometime then."

Furihata was stunned, "WHAT?"

"What's your name again, I think I didn't catch it."

"F-Furihata…Kouki."

"Oh, nice meeting you then _Kouki_." The man said, "I am Akashi Seijuuro."

.

3,

2,

1

.

.

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_ Furihata was left gaping there, _the_ AKASHI Seijuuro? The basketball prodigy and the only heir to that huge company?! The Akashi Seijuuro is holding his books, and carrying Kagami's huge bag and walking him home! Furihata was having a sudden mental breakdown, damn he made a fool out of himself already without knowing he had been speaking with the basketball prodigy! So that was why he looks familiar, damn, he cursed himself for not quickly recognizing his face. He looked much intimidating in person, with all honesty. Somehow, something about his eyes made him remember Kuroko. But he didn't expect him to be here, Furihata quickly panicked as he realized the guy's shirt and pants were ruined because of him, damn he probably couldn't afford to replace those.

"Are you alright _Kouki?"_ Akashi asked realizing the boy was staring at him wide eyed, it was actually funny and interesting seeing that expression in that boy's face. He chuckled as he realize the rising blush in that boy's face, for some reason Akashi found that color adoring the other's face suite him and made him look like a little puppy.

Akashi had happened to be passing by, when he saw this boy, there were numerous baggage in his arms and back, it made him look like smaller than he already is. Standing there at the side walk, he saw the lights flicker and then the boy absent minded took a step, Akashi however, his athlete trained eyes was able to spot the speeding car in his peripherals, shock took his body and before he knew it his hands and arms had taken control on its own as he grabbed the closest thing to him that was part of that boy, it so happened it was the collar of his thin button up shirt. With a force of a hand of a basketball player he pulled him, which accidentally caused him to trip backwards as the boy fell as well. He didn't know why he did it, as if something rung loudly in his senses drowning all other reasons he had. The next thing he knew the boy was bowing to him apologising, those big brown orbs staring at him in concern. His eyes…Akashi couldn't help but see something that made him feel awfully drawn to staring at them. In a minute he realized he just offered the boy a hand in his baggage.

The boy walked at his side shyly, Akashi had to stifle a laugh at the boy's antics, he looks like he's ready to melt in his spot anytime now. He wondered if it was even a good idea to tell him who is, he looked like he could plant his head on the floor anytime now. "Does my presence make you uncomfortable?" Akashi asked. The boy's head snap up but as soon as their eyes met, the boy's face lit in bright red, Akashi waited for a word or two from the boy but he looks like he was lost for words. "I didn't mean to—"

The boy shook his head, "N-No, t-that's not…uhm…i-it's not l-like that i-its just…I think I'm really imposing now, I-I mean A-Akashi-san i-is uhm…I mean…y-you didn't need to, y-you m-might be busy a-and—"

"If I was busy I wouldn't be walking on my own, and I wouldn't even volunteer myself carrying your luggage."

"B-But Akashi-san—"

"Are you repulsed by me, perhaps?" Akashi asked, there was no other explanation right, if he kept refusing his help, maybe he didn't like him. Oh maybe that was why he acted that way as well. He couldn't deny there were people who didn't like him, after all this is that kind of world. "I do understand if you do, you just have to—"

"I-Its not really like that." Furihata said, his eyes turned everywhere except towards the taller boy. Damn, how should he put it, should he tell him? But this could get more awkward than it already is if he told him, right? Furihata bit his lower lip contemplating how can he tell him without dying out of embarrassment. "I-Its…because I…uhm…"

"I can't understand you Kouki, speak louder and clearer, will you?"

"Akashi-san is…"

"Excuse me?" Akashi raised a brow, what did he say. He cant understand what the other was saying as his voice grew fainter by the last part. He didn't like waiting, if he doesn't want his help it was alright…right? He blinked as he realized for some reason he did mind it, he was lost usually he'd had a back plan for most of the things he did, even the littlest thing. But this time…this time he didn't know what he will do if he say he doesn't want to be with him. If he couldn't imagine himself glaring at this boy who was already trembling in his mere presence, or lecturing him on _how_ _dare he not be happy about his presence_. He braced himself, ah yes, he'll just leave him then. Akashi had braced himself, he understood, sometimes people took him in a different level, intimidating and suffocating to be with. He understood if he would feel—

"Akashi-san is my idol!"

.

.

.

Akashi blinked in confusion, what…did he just say… _idol_? Like he admires him…what? He never made much of a good impression with people, aside from his looks people rarely admired him like a role model just as he think Furihata meant by that. Looking at Furihata and his blushing face he knew he was sincere about his words. When was the last time someone he doesn't know spoke so truthfully in front of him? "I-I uhm, I-I'm a b-ba-basketball player too a-and A-Akashi-san i-is my i-idol, I-I always wanted to be like Akashi-san, y-you're v-very amazing in the court. I'm a point guard too but I'm nothing compared to your skills. I-Its really a lot to me meeting Akashi-san, a-and having y-you bring those I-I'm s-so sorry." He stutters as he speaks, Akashi realized this. Nervous, is he usually like this or was it just because Akashi looks intimidating even as he relaxes? The boy continued to blabber about how he was so sorry about destroying Akashi's probably expensive pants, which with all honesty he doesn't give a damn. His words was jumbled and was shooting at one topic to the other, but it was strange…it was strange he didn't felt that usual urge to cut the tongue of that person speaking because of their continues blabber, he stood there listening to him speak. Why doesn't he mind this brunet speaking so much, why does he felt like _yeah this is alright_ when most of the time he'd automatically shoots up and grab that moving lips and threatens him that if he doesn't stop he'll skin his head.

"I…Uhm… Akashi-san?"

It was that only moment Akashi realized he had been staring at those chocolate brown orbs a bit too long and hard that he had notice the way it turns from right to left, then down and up to his again, and the way his small slightly chapped lips quivered and he would bit his lower lip when he hesitates. Akashi had always been observant of the people around him, but he never stared like this or liked what he saw as he stares.

"Yes." Akashi replied.

"I-I'm sorry I must be bothering you."

"What nonsense." Akashi said, "Come, let's get you to your house."

"Y-You're not uhm…angry?" Furihata asked as he started to walk again, Akashi following.

"Why would I…honestly I was shock to know someone would actually idolize me."

"Eh?" Furihata turned to Akashi searching for any hints of the other joking, "B-But you're r-really a popular figure in basketball, e-especially…uhm being a captain of a big and amazing team. I-I mean who wouldn't?"

"A lot." Akashi replied. "Its not every day I hear someone say something good about me." He said in a faint voice. He knows it, behind his back in Rakuzan they spoke to him like Satan's spawn.

"…If uhm you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here…uh Rakuzan is in Kyoto."

"I was thinking I could have seen my _friend_ here, his class was supposed to end by this time however…it seems like I didn't catch him."

"Oh, uhm so y-you're visiting a friend?"

"Yes." Akashi answered, he was supposed to see him today, he was a bit worried after he didn't visit after that incident. He wanted to make sure he is alright, the only clue he has was a file, a boy named Kuroko Tetsuya was registered as a transfer student at a semi-private school in Tokyo. He didn't know why he entered the school, however Akashi wanted to speak, at least to know speak with him, assure himself he is alright, after meeting a brother he never thought he had.

"Alone?"

"I prefer to see him just alone, just me." He said, he didn't want others to know yet about his younger brother, not like this. And it was his brother's wish as well, not to speak of this. It still puzzled him why he does this, why he didn't want people to know that he is an Akashi as well. For his safety his said, he didn't understand that part, but he believes him. He didn't know why or what made him easily believe the younger boy, but then again, maybe it was what they call the blood's calling the other, because deep inside, his flesh acknowledges the other. He was sure he wouldn't want to speak if he had his people tailing him everywhere. He slipped from practice and texted his chauffer that he'd be late, this was the first time he did this actually. All for his brother.

"He must be very close to Akashi-san."

"Something like that." Akashi said, "How about you, the people who own these bags, are they close to you as well?"

"Ah, yes!" Furihata replied, "Kagami is bit hot headed, but he's really nice and our new class— _Oh_ this is my stop." Furihata said looking back at the red haired boy. "Ah, maybe you could uhm…would you like to have some juice?"

Akashi smiled and shook his head, "Thank you, but maybe next time." He said as he glanced at the house a few feet away from them. It was a two storey house, plain looking almost like the brunet. He looked at Furihata again. He wouldn't mind seeing him again…no, he'd love to see him again. He'd want to see him.

"N-Next time?"

"Yes." Akashi said, "You interest me, maybe we could play some basketball sometime, then wouldn't you mind me joining you in a dinner."

"A-Ah w-well I…Yes!" Furihata blushed, damn he sounded a bit too enthusiastic about that, why does he kept embarrassing himself, he scolded himself. However his blush and embarrassment burnt a degree higher when Akashi flashed him a gentle smile that made something his chest churn, damn it, curse Akashi Seijuuro's gorgeous eyes, how cannot he admire this amazing athlete? His good looking alright, and added to that was his talent, he could almost do anything, what can't Akashi Seijuuro do? He had always found him very amazing, the first time he saw him play was when Furihata was in the middle school, he sat with his friend who invited him to watch a basketball match, it was championship then, it was the first time he had watch him play. And he was beyond awed to see how he smoothly glided out from the opponent's guard and made a swift three pointer. Since then Furihata wanted to be like him, like that amazing player. He had never imagine standing there, Akashi Seijuuro holding his books, telling him he was willing to see and play a game or two with him, the oh so ordinary plain him.

Wait, did Akashi just said he is intere—

"Then, you wouldn't mind if I ask for your number?"

Furihata nodded shyly, damn, be more discrete, he scolded himself, he clumsily reached for his pocket as Akashi brought out his own. After a few moment, a notification appeared in his screen showing a new contact was added to his list, _Akashi Seijuuro_ it said. Furihata turned up to bid the other goodbye when he realize the other was staring at his screen with a smile as well. "Your name is beautiful." He said almost making Furihata melt right at his spot, how can he say that with that face, with that small upturn in his lips. He was starting to believe all that he was saying and that was _so bad_ because he knows at the back of his mind, someone like him isn't suited in the company of someone like Akashi.

"I should be going now."

"Ah, y-yes." Furihata took the bag from Akashi then his books, "Thank you very much."

Akashi let a chuckle slip from his lips.

"W-What is it?"

"You didn't stutter when you thanked me."

.

.

…

The next time he opened his eyes he was staring at a ceiling of an unfamiliar room, his head still feels awful but it was better than before. Realizing something Kuroko weakly pulled himself up in a sitting position, he blinked as he realized his clothes were now different, where is his uniform? The sleeves were a bit too long but the material was soft against his skin, and the blanket it was very comfortable. He realized the bed was too big to be his. And the pillows, they smell like mint and sandalwood, a familiar scent. The room was big, the walls were pale brown almost white, and while the bottom part was red. The floor was covered in a brown carpet, and there were a few shelves in the side of the room, and a desk that looks empty. He turned to look for any clues where he might be, but there was just none. The room looked like it was some hotel room or something, there was no picture frame, not even a calendar, all there was is a small ice bag in set in the nightstand placed inside a bucket.

The door creaked open and then he was surprised to see Kagami stepping in holding a glass of water. He was wearing a white hoodie with a big black print of NEW YORK in the front and a black sweatpants. What…where is he? Kuroko wondered what was he doing there, what is Kagami doing there? The man didn't notice him looking as he closed the door behind him, Kuroko thought he'd lock the door but he didn't. When Kagami turned towards the direction of the bed his eyes widen as he realized the teal haired boy was now awake and was staring at him with his huge eyes.

"Are you feeling better?" Kagami asked. Kuroko blinked and nodded, Kagami walked towards the bed and handed him the glass of water, "Can you drink on your own now?" he asked and the boy nodded in affirmation. Kagami let Kuroko held the glass and drunk it half empty.

As Kuroko passed the glass to Kagami, he looked around, "Where…is this?" his voice sounded weird he thought.

"My family's home." He said, "Sorry, you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you up, but the school was closing and your uncle called said he can't pick you up."

Kuroko couldn't recall anything, he remembered blacking out in the corridor. "What time is it now, Kagami-kun?" he asked. Kagami pulled the sleeves of his hoodie revealing a wrist watch.

"Its pass eight in the evening."

"What? I…I had slept through eight straight hours?"

Kagami blinked at the smaller man's words, "No uh…you woke up a few times. In the clinic, remember?"

Kuroko shook his head, "I…don't really remember that much." Kuroko said. Damn, could it be he did something again? It was something that seems always to happen whenever he catches a fever, saying uncharacteristic things, sometimes—oh god, he wish he didn't…cry, right? "Did I…say something?"

Kagami scratched his cheek awkwardly, "Well a few, but…yeah, don't worry I don't have anyone to tell that anyhow. Its your issue, I should be uhm apologizing for that…I mean I kinda pried by uhm that."

"No it was…" Kuroko wanted to scold his self, why does it has to be Kagami to see that? "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, its alright."

"I'm feeling better now I should go home."

Kagami panicked, "Hey I-I cant let you do that, you're sick!"

"I _was_ sick," Kuroko corrected, "I feel better now I don't want to over stay my welcome."

"You aren't." Kagami replied quickly. "Your fever had only gone down by a two degrees last thirty minutes. You aren't in condition to go home, on your own."

Kuroko was about to say something when he realized something. Kagami called his uncle…Nijimura, he probably told Kagami he's living on his own now. Maybe this is why the other was very insistent for him to stay. Kuroko sighed, first of all he can't remember what rubbish did he told Kagami and now he is to stay here in his house, the house of the man he was supposedly assigned to kill. Not just that, Kagami had taken him in his house, _probably_ lend him his clothes, and now offering him to stay? Does he always do this, let people stay over?

"You're the first."

Kuroko looked up to Kagami, thinking that he had said that out loud, however seems like the man had just spoke on his own. "I mean, in this house, I was panicking I brought you here instead of my apartment."

"But you said this is your house."

"My parents and my house." Kagami explained, "This was my room, so yeah…there isnt much."

"Is your apartment different?" Kuroko didn't know why he asked that, knowing what kind of house his target lives in is a very helpful information but that wasn't why he asked him…he was just curious.

"No, it's a bit smaller, honestly I don't know what will I do with too much spaces like this. It makes me feel much bored than I am already." He said as he sat on the side of the bed. "How about you, what is it like there where you live?"

"Empty." Kuroko found himself saying.

Kagami was quiet for a moment, Kuroko looked at the hand in his lap. Why cant he not lie to Kagami, why does his lips always start speaking the things his brain tells him not to. Was it just his fever talking? Or was it the way Kagami looked at him. "Why…didn't you say anything?" Kagami said in a low voice almost whispering. "When you're not okay, why do you keep it to yourself?"

Kuroko wanted to answer him, would anybody care if he did, would someone cry when he can't for himself, does someone like that exist? No. They are all dead now. People who cared for him always die. So that was why he chose to keep a distance with his brother, in this way he can protect him and assure himself. And besides, he's used to this. Kuroko attempted to lie to Kagami this time, "But I'm fine." He said. Ah, yes the classic one, that one never gets old. I'm fine, the most used, most known lie among people. But Kagami who usually would shrug and say alright ad walk away didn't he turned to him eyes boring right at his soul, looking…angry? Why? Why was he angry?

"You're insulting me." He said in a firm voice, there was seriousness coating them, it was so sharp that Kuroko felt a pang of pain in his chest as the words were said.

"What are you—"

"When you lie to someone its like insulting them." he said cutting the teal haired boy, "You don't think I can see it? You don't think I see the way you look at me right now? I know things aren't okay, and its okay if you don't want to tell that to me, just tell me you don't want to talk about it I'll scoot off, but don't you _lie_ to me. Not like this."

Kuroko didn't know what to tell him…

 _But everything that has been me, that you have known about me is a lie_

 _Nothing was real aside from this body you speak with_

"Don't tell me you're fine when you aren't."

 _I'm not okay Kagami-kun_

His eyes were fixed in those fiery red once. All that he had ever feared reflects in them, a kind of warmth and comfort that he wasn't used to. Kuroko was used to speaking with people that held a knife behind their back, he was used to standing on par with a man who had killed eight men twice their sizes, he was used to cruelty and pain, then there he was all that was not what he was used to, all that bright warm light, all that was concern and gentleness. All of his fear was Kagami. And he…wasn't supposed to be so deeply involve, Kuroko thought. He was…he is…

" _What do you think about Kagami?"_

 _Who is Kagami Taiga to me?_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _My Achilles' heels._


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm still alive but I'm barely breathing~ LOL Thank you for everyone who is still waiting for the update for HTM~! Ans sorry for making you guys wait, as you knew I'm stuck in my projects in the university so that's mainly one of the reasons why I always forget to update this chapter, HOWEVER lol no worries since I'm going to be finishing alll those by the coming week, that means-MORE TIME WITH YOU GUYS! Isn't that great? LOL and yeah, to those also whose waiting foir the uodate for LION, it will be the day right after I update HTM so yeah tomorrow! THANK YOU EVREYONE FOR STICKING WITH MEEEEE and I just want to announce-I will be also launching my very first Celebrity AU for KnB fanfic! Credits to AJ-san who suggested it *claps hands at AJ-san* YES ITS OFFICIAL FINALLY, I will be launching as the 14th Chapter of LION, ARE YOU EXCITED lol! And to our new readers WELCOOOOOOOOOOME! I hope we didnt make you wait for too long for the update *bows head vehemently*_

 _ANYHOW, without further ado I BRING YOU THE 7TH CHAPTEEER lol, oooh so what's gonna happen next after Kuroko finally admits defeat over the kindness of the heir of the Kagami household? Is he still going to continue his plan, and will Akashi finally unveils the century old secrets of their family-why did his mother kept his wn blood brother away? What's next for the Kagakuro pair?!_

 _HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THE UPDATE AND DON'T FORGET TO DROP BY AND LAVE REVIEW *winks*_

 **Chapter 7: Not Easy**

"Ah, Taiga I heard—"

The two stared at the door, Kagami blinked and found his mother holding a tray with a stuck expression on her face, she side herself in.

"How are you feeling Kuroko-san?" Sandra said as she placed the tray on Kagami's desk. She quietly poured the guests a cup of tea. It was the very first time that her son brought home a friend, and to their family house as well. She was informed of course that this boy was the _strange kid_ as his son put it that saved him a few days ago. Thinking about it, the boy does look quite amusing, he has such low presence that anyone could miss him in a room full of people despite having that striking pair of bright blue eyes and powder teal hair—which glanced and chuckled, "Oh sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." Kagami found himself standing abruptly and feeling his cheeks burn in embarrassment, he sounded so cliché just a few seconds ago, he only prayed his mother did not hear all those, or she might start thinking _something_ going on. Kuroko bowed to the new person in the room. Kagami Sandra smiled and bowed as well before chuckling as she invited for some reason is familiar, she just couldn't seem to remember where she had seen it. Kagami returned with the boy in his arms, huffing and burning almost 40 degrees, his son was very wary of people since the kidnapping incident when he was younger, he had difficulty forming strong friendship with people, and even if he does, it was rare that he would trust someone to this extent, to even bring him to their home. And it didn't escape the worried look his son had when he arrived, when was the last time his son looked so worried over someone outside the family? As Sandra turned she found Kuroko looking her way with a unreadable expression—again it looked familiar.

"I hope you would like some tea?" she said as she kindly offered the hot beverage, Kuroko bowed his head meekly. What a polite boy, she thought. When Kuroko took the cup from her hand, her eyes widen by a fraction—

"Mom!" Sandra turned to look at his son who seemed quite nervous for some reason, "What are you doing here, and barging in like that?"

Sandra chuckled and playfully slapped Kagami's shoulder, "Come on, like you were doing _something_ anyways."

"W-What are you even implying Mom!"

Sandra shrugged teasingly. "Anyways, why don't you make Kuroko-san some soup, he must be famished, also don't forget to tell the maids to set him a few clothes for tonight." Kagami sighed and turned to Kuroko, it cannot be helped. Kuroko seems to have fallen in silence after their confrontation. Was he…too hard on him? He shouldn't have raised his voice he thought, the other had issues, things that he might not as well tell Kagami, and he should have known better…and yet…

"I'll leave him in your care then."

The words Kagami said made Kuroko's heart clench, leaving…again. His ahdns unconsciously gripped the cup in his hand tighter. Kagami meant well, Kagami…always meant well, and yet he couldn't be the same towards the other, all was he is a lie covered in flesh. He couldn't even lift his head to face him. Kagami…was always so honest with him, and it hurts, because he wasn't supposed to be nice, or honest, or caring, or worried about him. If he only knew what he intended, would he still be the same towards him—

 _Of course not, who do you think he is…ad God?_

People would naturally hate him, of course, he is evil after all. He would kill if he got bored, he would kill and he wouldn't even lose a night of sleep. People like him do not deserve the sincerity Kagami Taiga is showing, they deserve people throwing stones at them, they deserve all the insults. When he heard the door closed Kuroko simply told himself this was better, Kagami should start getting away from him, angry, disappointed, so in the end it will be easier…for the both of them.

"How are you feeling Kuroko-san?"

The voice interrupted his line of thoughts. Kuroko weakly looked up from the cup and looked at Sandra, the woman had such grace of someone married into a family of businessmen, she had such a kind and welcoming smile, almost like Kagami's. Kuroko knows about her, as he looked over Kagami Taiga's identity, he digged any details about him which included his family—Kagami Sandra, maiden name Marcus Sandra, born in Los Angeles, America daughter of a private employed parents, she lived a pretty normal life, she was quite popular among her peers with her ability to quickly adapt with people and her level of social skills. She met Kagami's father during her endeavors in Japan, she worked in the corporate world until she married the man and since then helped her husband in the business. They only had one son, and that was Kagami Taiga. "I…I feel better." Kuroko answered.

"That's good to hear." Sandra replied as she glanced to the closed door. "I hope Taiga wasn't very harsh on his treatment with you."

"Not at all." Kuroko said, Kagami had been anything but inconsiderate.

"Hm, that's refreshing to hear." Sandra said. Kagami had difficulty having friends, when he was younger he usually got into fights with other kids, people assumed that his son got all that he wanted because he was born in an affluent family, they never tried to look closer at him. Kagami always ended up in a fight trying to prove his point. People complained that her son was harsh on his words, barbaric and always resorted to violence. "By the way, I haven't thanked you for saving Taiga, that was you, right Kuroko-san?"

Kuroko looked down at his hands holding the cup of tea, "Its nothing…Kagami-san."

"Eh, don't call me that, _Kagami-san_ is my husband." She said chuckling, "And what's with the long face?"

Kuroko didn't know if it was alright to tell Kagami Sandra, the people of this household seems to be unnecessarily nice. Kuroko was all the more stunned when Sandra pulled a chair close to the bed and sat there watching him. "You know, Taiga had never brought any friends at home, you are the first one. And honestly, I was glad he is making friends. When he was younger children his age doesn't like him, they complain about how my son is violent. Maybe he was…but kids are kids. I got worried that he might not be able to form some trust founded friendship especially after that incident…when he was kidnapped." Sandra sighed, "Ah, I don't if I should be telling you this, but you know…well Taiga, he had trust issues with people."

"It doesn't seem like that though." Kuroko said, "Its almost like he trust people… _too easily_."

Sandra chuckled, "Yeah…but that was like a front you know, but deep inside, he truly couldn't trust people, like at the back of his mind he was ready when that person turns around and leave him. It makes me sad…honestly. That was despite all that he say, never even once he brought home friends. He never even at once told anyone…about what he really is." She said, her voice fell in quite sadness. Kuroko looked up at her, "A mother…would never want to see that kind of face in his own son."

Kuroko's eyes widen at the word…

 _"_ _This isn't what she would want for you!"_

 _"_ _Tetsuya!"_

A mother…wouldn't want to…see that expression in her son's face?

"I…don't understand…I don't have…a mother."

Sandra turned and looked at Kuroko, his eyes were filled with confusion and a shadow of regret. Her heart quickly sunk at the sight. And he looked so strong, who would have thought?

"I…I'm sorry Kuroko-san, I didn't mean to." Sandra said, she then smiled and took one of Kuroko's hand into hers, "…Ah, but then since you're Taiga's first friend, then you can treat me like your mother as well—that's if you want to!" she said smiling widely.

Kuroko's eyes widen—does she even know what she is saying? Kuroko listened to Sandra speaking things he couldn't even catch up with, however she could see that smile, ah, wasn't his mother used to smile like that as well? As wide, as cheerful as that, she never told him the things that bothered her, and it was for his sake, because he was loved. And Sandra gave him the same look that he didn't even understand, he was a complete stranger, he was only Kagami's—

"You know Taiga is quite fond of you, right?"

Kuroko blinked, "I-I beg your pardon."

Sandra chuckled, "I don't know but he wouldn't do at such extent. I will not stop him, I trust his judgement when it comes with people. I respect his choices with people."Kuroko's was lost for words, his tea had gone cold in his hands. Sandra smiled at him sincerely it almost pierces his frozen heart. She kept speaking about how Kagami talked about him, embarrassed when he was asked why he seems quite _interested_ with the new guy. "Ah, but now, I know. Kuroko-san is an interesting person indeed! And my, you have such pretty face for a boy!"

What was she thinking? Does she even know what she is getting herself into, he was chuckling, serving tea to the man who plans to kill his only son, does she even know who she's offering herself to foster? Her smiles, her chuckles, her warm hand, her words builds guilt inside him even more like sacks of concrete behind his back.

 _Anger_

 _Be mad at me_

 _Shoo me away!_

 _Please…_

"Ah, then from now on, maybe I should call you Tetsuya as well, is that alright?"

 _"_ _Tetsuya?"_

 _"_ _Oh don't be like that, you can call me Mother, Tetsuya."_

 _"_ _Tetsuya its just me."_

 _"_ _Tetsuya…"_

"Ah! D-Did I say something?" Kuroko blinked at Sandra's sudden exclamation, he found the woman panicking and doesn't seem to know what to do, her eyes searched around a mother who just found her son bleeding from getting tripped. Kuroko only figured out when Sandra leaned close to him and wiped his eyes with a white handkerchief—

 _Why…am I…crying?_

"Ah, I-I'm sorry Tetsuya! I-I s-shouldn't have—"

"Mother—"

The two stopped and looked to where the sound voice came from and found Kagami standing at the door eyes wide. "MOTHER WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Kagami quickly ran to Kuroko's defense.

"What? I was only wiping his tears, he was crying you know."

"What did you tell him Mother? Why did you make him cry?!"

"You came in without knocking how rude!"

"Mother this is my room!"

"Kagami-kun I'm alright—"

"I didn't do anything I swear!"

"Why was he crying then, Mother he's sick come on!"

"Ah, Kagami-kun I said I'm alri—"

"MOTHE— _OUCH!"_ Kagami flinched as he felt Kuroko pinch his side, looking at the other he was surprised to see the other seems back to his normal self.

"Kagami-kun please don't raise your voice at Sandra-san"

"Eh?!"

"Ah, such a sweet and darling boy!" Sandra exclaimed as she pulled the teal haired boy in a tight embrace. "I wish Taiga would get an ounce of your good manners!"

"MOTHER PERSONAL SPACE!" Kagami screamed in horror.

Sandra let go and smiled at the two, she then walked towards the door waving at the two, "Take a good rest, _Tetsuya_." She said before she leaving the two and closing the door behind him.

When the door closed Sandra stood behind it leaning, she could hear the muffled voice of his son saying something about not letting her do as she pleases. Things did change quite in a fast paced manner. Her son was no longer that boy who cried over falling over his bike, her son is a grown man now, able to support his others, able to risk his feeble heart. However…Sandra closed her eyes and raised her hand, that feeling…

 _"_ _Sandra, you must meet Akashi-sama."_

 _Sandra blinked and found herself looking at the teal haired woman in a formal black kimono, her long teal haired tied behind her in a neat and elegant bun accented with white pearls. "She is the current head of the Akashi Corporation. Akashi-sama, this is Kagami Sandra-san, Kagami-sama's wife, you must know her."_

 _The teal haired woman smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you Kagami-san." She said with the most gentle voice she had ever heard as she offered her a handshake, "I am…Akashi Tetsumi."_

Kuroko Tetsuya looks strikingly like Akashi Tetsumi, it was almost frighteningly identical, if Tetsumi was born as a man Sandra bet she would look just like Kuroko. Biting her lips as she remembered the sensation in her hands as she shook her hands with the boy, she could only pray…his son wasn't making a mistake this time, she prayed that Kuroko Tetsuya's hands were only a trivial, detail about the boy.

 _"_ _You should learn," Tetsumi said one day, "you are a woman after all, you should know who a person is just with their hands."_

 _"_ _Huh, how can I do that Akashi-san?"_

 _"_ _When shaking their hands you—_

* * *

"Ne, Riko."

"What?" Aida Riko sighed, walking home with her ex-boyfriend wasn't really a big deal. After all Hyuuga was with them. It seems like it had been an unspoken truce between the two. Kiyoshi was her ex-boyfriend[1] but that was a story of a long time ago, right now they could laugh about it. Aida turned and found Kiyoshi looking at his stupidly gigantic hands. Before she could say something he showed his palm to the brown haired basketball coach making her tilted her head in the side in confusion. "W-What are you doing?"

Kiyoshi sighed and retracted his hand to look at it, "Hey, your family owns a dojo too right?"

"Ah, yeah, why?"

"…" Kiyoshi didn't know what to say, but he was sure…that hands, were no hands of an ordinary teenager. "I think…we should tell Kagami to stop seeing that kid, you know him right? Kuroko Tetsuya or something."

"Oh, yeah, the new kid? Kagami's _friend?_ "

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Kiyoshi walked passed Aida, "I smell trouble with that kid."

* * *

"Did mother say anything?"

Kuroko shook his head, "Its just my eyes got something on it. But I am…alright now."

"You're not lying this time are you?"

"No."

Kagami hummed, and without Kuroko's consent took the cup from his hand and suddenly replaced it with a familiar looking plastic cup—Kuroko blinked in confusion, a milkshake…from that same fast food? Kagami grinned widely and placed a finger against his lips, "Don't tell Mother I got you one." He said before flopping next to the teal haired boy, "I thought you like them so I got them. You wouldn't like that ginseng tea, I swear."

Kuroko found himself chuckling, "Kagami-kun is surprisingly observant with unnecessary details."

"Shut up and just ea—"

"Thank you."

Kagami turned and found Kuroko quietly taking a sip from the straw, without thinking he found himself reaching to his mop of teal hair and ruffling it, he looked like some cute animal. Well yeah, ultimately he looks like puppy but he did not frightened Kagami as it the mental image would usually do. Kuroko didn't complain which was new as well, maybe it was due to his fever? Kuroko's sight somehow had this tendency to calm and stir him up all at once which was strange, who the hell would have such description right? Well, surprise, Kuroko Tetsuya. "By the way, I made some soup, you think you can get something in your stomach?"

Kuroko nodded meekly, "I…think so, Sandra-san's energy made me hungry."

Kagami chuckled, "Yeah, she's too energetic for an old woman."

"She's not old Kagami-kun. And besides she's really beautiful…I don't know what happened to Kagami-kun."

"WHA—Are you sure you're sick, where did you get this sudden energy to tease!"

"I don't know what you are talking about Kagami-kun."

"YOU DO!"

Kuroko felt as suddenly Kagami grabbed his arm, he quickly suppressed his initial reaction to grab Kagami's arm and twist it behind his back. Kuroko closed his eyes instead, he couldn't act harshly here, not here of all places, then—

 _BUMP_

"Aw." Kuroko winced slightly as he felt something bumping with a little force against his forehead, opening his eyes he found his cheeks burning a hundred degrees as he found Kagami's face almost so close to his, the other's forehead against his, his dark crimson eyelashes were so close, he could feel his warm breathe fanning his cheeks. Just how the hell did they end up like this? When Kagami's eyes opened and stared right at him, he felt something in his chest, he felt as if he was out of breathe all of a sudden, then his heart— _its…so loud!_

"Ah, your fever's down." Kagami said nonchalantly.

"I-It seems like that…"

"Eh, but your face is red…hm, do I need to lower the heat of the room?"

Kuroko shook his head meekly, "I-I'll be alright."

Kagami chuckled as he pulled away, "My mom used to do that to check my temperature, I forgot to tell her she should have taken your temperature, so I did it on my own." Kuroko seemed a bit uncomfortable, Kagami raised a brow, ah did he…do something wrong? "Is something wrong?"

Kuroko averted his eyes from the other making the crimson haired heir even more confused.

"…I thought I had a heart attack…"

Kagami's eyes widen…what…heart…attack—Kagami exploded in the same shade of red as the other as he found the _implications_ of those words, no, no, no Kuroko might mean something else, he mentally scolded himself, and yet he couldn't stop from—

"I-I'll go get your dinner!" he said dashing out of the room.

* * *

Akashi sat on his study room that night, staring at the piles of papers in his desk. Hiring a private investigator, he asked to put on tab a boy that goes with the name of Kuroko Tetsuya—the brother he never thought he had. He couldn't understand why would his family do this, his mother especially, why would he hide his own twin brother? How can his mother do this? Why did he let it happen? Clenching his hands into a fist the words in the paper boiled his blood, he needed the real answers, _now_. Kuroko Tetsuya was registered under his Mother's family name, the boy was _fostered_ by Nijimura Shuuzo, his mother's half-brother. He was home schooled, and the rest of the information about him was wiped. Why, what was the reason for this? Why did their father and mother let this happen? He never thought his loving parents would dare hid his own twin brother.

And what is his brother's intentions of showing _now_ of all of the times. Why, now? What was he planning, and enrolling in a school in Tokyo, just what goes in his mind, what is he planning?

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts, "Come in." Akashi said, the door quietly opened and revealed an old woman in a maid clothing.

" _Bocchan_ you called?" The woman said in a soft voice. Akashi looked at him quietly, he could remember, his father once told him that the woman had been serving the family for four straight generations now, if there was anyone who could probably know the answer to the questions he has in mind, that would be this woman.

"Yes, I have something to ask you, and please… _tell me the truth_."


	8. Chapter 8

_If you guys had visisted LION's chapter update you must have probably know that today is Kicchin's first year anniversary as a writer here in Fanfiction, it has been a great year with you guys especially those who had been with Kicchin since the start since MONOGATARI. Everyone who had been reading Kichhin's works as well, THANK YOU! I'm so happy to have you guys with me. So I hope you continue to support me. Since my classes had ended now, I have a month or two to freely update anytime which means we will have lots of time together-I hope you dont mind though *chuckles*_

 _AND NOOOOW UPDAATE lol sorry for making you wait guys! *bows head* Thank you for reading HTM and don't forget to review *winks*_

 **Chapter 8: Remembrance**

Akashi sat quietly in that swing it was morning at 3 AM, it was cold and quiet. The place where sounds of children laughing filled every corner had settled in an eerie silence. The metal chains of the swing is moist due to the fog, the only light that illuminated the scarlet haired heir's face was the light from his mobile phone, his fingers hesitating to press that number. He couldn't sleep after the conversation he had with the attendant. He remembered his mother with a gentle smile in her face, with her lovely blue locks and her warm embraces, she never said anything to him, nor did his father. He wondered just how much pain did his mother endured to see her other son growing far from her arms, his father to know that while they silently and peacefully slept in the night, their younger son was somewhere as sleep evades him, quietly longing for a mother's hymn or father's gentle pat in the head. And he wondered about his younger brother, the things he went through, the things he lost before he could even touch them. A family he never felt, a father he never met, a mother he knew only when it was too late, a brother who didn't recognize him.

 _"_ _I want you to tell me the truth." Akashi said with a firm resolution eyes locked with the old woman's. "You have been serving the family longer than anyone else, I expect answers."_

 _"_ _Bocchan, what is it that you need to know?"_

 _"_ _Was there any twins born in this family?" Akashi asked straight to the point._

 _He watched as the servant's face grew from confused, to shock, for a moment Akashi saw hesitation in her eyes but she found her own resolution, and she nodded, "Yes." She answered quietly in her old and low voice. "There was once."_

 _"_ _Why did nobody mentioned that before?"_

 _"_ _They…" The maid looked up at Akashi and sighed, "It was such a long story Bocchan, it was way before your parents' time when the first twins of the Akashi household was born. Two males, however…they were prophesied to be the reason of the fall of the whole household, and just like that the family almost fell in the hands of the twins…until one of them died. It was since then forbid to have twins in the family fearing that the prophecy will be completed this time around…drastic measures were made."_

 _"_ _Drastic…measures?"_

 _The attendant nodded, "Anyone who bears twins were killed, they were exiled from the family, stripped off from their names and any rights against the inheritance of the family. Never once again a twins were born in the family." She replied._

 _The room was momentarily filled with silence. Kuroko and he had the same birthdate, it meant only one—they were the twins that should never been born. Akashi didn't need anyone to tell him, he understood it, the reason why he never met with Kuroko was probably his parents' fear of the family's wrath towards the two innocent infants who didn't meant to be born from the same parents in the same time. For an old stupid traditions many things were sacrificed? He could only imagine all the measures their parents took to ensure that both of him and Kuroko would be delivered safely, away from the eys of the family. It was perhaps the reason why he wasn't born in a hospital rather in a villa owned by their family in the country side, the reason why people questioned his mother. Could Kuroko also be the reason why his mother would suddenly excuse herself during his birthday parties when he was younger, it was to have a few minutes with her younger son who was hidden from everyone's eyes?_

 _Akashi wondered, did Kuroko even had the chance to see their father's wake? Or did he even had any exchange of words from him before his death? Did he ever heard from their mother lullaby at night, had she ever read him books like she would to him? Just how many nights did Kuroko Tetsuya spent alone, just how many birthdays did he spent unable to hear their father's congratulations? Had he even had the chance to call him father?_

 _"…_ _Obaa-san," Akashi called, "did you know…a boy my mother used to visit in their household after I was born?"_

 _The woman tilted her head sideways then light flickered in her eyes, "Yes." She said, "Now that you mentioned it, there was someone who she visited often but that was when Bocchan was already five years old."_

 _Five years old…five years, it was logical to think that she will be busy taking care of the infant Seijuuro then, and she had spent five years away from his other son. Just how difficult was it for her, for a kind hearted woman like his mother to be away from his son, without any knowledge whose arms might be carrying his son, was he fed already, what could be his first word? Akashi could only imagine her mother's pain all those years, all for them._

 _"_ _Oh I remember your father did asked me to do for that boy as well."_

 _Akashi's attention was caught by the detail, his father left something to Kuroko? "What is it?"_

 _"_ _It was on the eve of Bocchan's birthday when he asked me to pick up something from a blacksmith outside the town."_

 _"_ _What was it?"_

 _"_ _Now that I think about it, it's a katana."_

 _"_ _A…katana?"_

 _At that moment Akashi remembered the very first encounter he had with his brother, he was holding a katana then. a katana with a white handle and a dragon etched in its blade—"Hakuryuu, I think that's the name of the katana." The servant said. Hakuryuu…it meant white dragon, just like the color of the handle and the image etched to it. He wondered if Kuroko knew it was a gift from their father. He wondered. "Lady Tetsumi was the one who brought it though just as always."_

 _"_ _Did you know who my mother was visiting those times?"_

 _The woman shook her head, "Lady Tetsumi and your father said it was the son of Lady Tetsumi's brother. From what I've heard the boy didn't have a mother, you know your mother she is quite a Samaritan and took pity on the child. It was the reason why she visited him often."_

 _Kuroko…he wondered how long did it took him to find out the truth, how long did he lived believing that their mother was just a his foster father's sister who had a kind heart to take the place of a mother he never had? It breaks his heart thinking of this things coming pass him without his knowledge, aand there he was complaining how his fate was ill, how unlucky was he to be born into this family where everyone's a vulture and he was a meat in their eyes waiting to drop dead the next second. Kuroko probably lived half if his life not knowing who to trust, not knowing what a mother or a father is, what having a family feels like. He felt rather guilty knowing all this._

 _That night Akashi wish Kuroko was there and he'd tell him, they wont part again. This time, he'll have the family he didn't have. They'll challenge the beliefs and tradition of the family. Akashi wanted to look at Kuroko's eyes again and tell him, it's okay to step out into the light now. Maybe their mother wanted this too. Maybe Tetsumi would want this too. Maybe she was only looking for the right time then to reveal Kuroko to them, the right time when they could no longer be helpless in the eyes of these vultures._

Akashi stared absent mindedly in the playground, if Kuroko was there maybe it would have been a lot easier accepting what happened to their mother, maybe it was easier and maybe he wouldn't have been this cynical man that he is now. He imagined a younger version of him and Kuroko playing there in the dirt and their parents calling out to them, their tiny hands making a tiny castle laughing, having fun just as what children were supposed to. It was the kind of life Akashi hope for both of them, and probably the life their mother and father wanted for them to have. He wants to know what Kuroko plans, what he has in mind, what was he doing these things for. Knowing everything right then felt so heavy in his chest and without thinking his thumb fell to the screen of his phone and before he knew it it was already calling someone. Akashi noticing his phone's light had gotten brighter he turned to the screen and to his horror saw a familiar name flashing in the screen—

 ** _Calling, Furihata Kouki_**

As Akashi was about to dismiss this stupid idea, suddenly the call was answered which of course startled the scarlet hair, why is Furihata awake at 3 AM? Deciding it was rude not to speak when he was the one who _accidentally_ called Akashi answered hiding his flustered self, "Hello?" there were some groaning noises and a muffled voice of the other that sounded like _what time is it—_ or something like that. After a few moments, a sleepy voice answered.

"Uh…who is this?"

"Kouki, did I…disturb you?"

There was a pregnant silence between them until, "AKASHI-KUN!" then a loud thud which seems like Furihata falling off his bed which was very likely of him. After a few static noises and more noises the brunette resumed speaking, "I-I'm sorry f-for shouting I-I didn't thought you'd call at…uhm 3 AM."

"I did disturb you then, I apologize…" Akashi said, somehow he felt like this towards the brunette maybe beause the other had been nothing but kind and sincere since the first few moments they met. Maybe it was the reason why Akashi felt like falling and leaning into this warmth. His voice seemed to send Akashi a silent message saying _yeah, just speak whatever you need to, I wont judge you_. Or maybe it was just Furihata himself, the way his butterscotch eyes seems a bit fidgety, so innocent and kind, and the way his almost squeezed himself in humility. He decided of all the people Furihata was the only one he could ever think to speak of these things with. "You may go back to your sleep, pretend that I didn't make that ca—"

"You cant Akashi-kun I'm already up." Furihata protested half whined from the other line, Akashi thought the other might still be sleeoy to have not stuttered like that. "And besides…Akashi-kun called at this hour, it must be very important. I'll listen."

 _I'll listen…_ when did anyone ever said those words to him? When did anyone bothered to sit down and listen to Akashi Seijuuro throw his heart out and make personal opinions? When did anyone care what Akashi Seijuuro feels like? Akashi chuckled dryly, did he crave for attention that much? Did he crave for someone's affection this much to have been smitten just by two words? But he couldn't deny the way his chest felt elevated from those words and the fact that Furihata wasn't stuttering either made it even more…pleasant to his ears. He liked the flustered brunette like a little bunny, but this Furihata isnt bad either.

The words echoed in Akashi's ears and it made him want to see his face and hear Furihata's voice _now_. But Akashi didn't voice it out, Akashi decided to let it die inside his throat, it would be too troubling for Furihata, it was such a cold night to go out and see some depress guy. For all Furihata could care, right? However as if the othercould read his mind—

"Akashi-kun could you happen to be in Tokyo right now?"

Akashi didn't answer, he didn't know what to do now, everything about the other makes him want to cave in and just be some lump of emotional piece of flesh. "You are in Tokyo. Where are you? Akashi-kun? Akashi-kun, please answer me I'm getting worried by the second." He does sound worried, Akashi quietly thought, what a kind person he thought. Meeting Furihata was like seeing a dove born among crows. How can he be so concern towards someone he just met? "Akash-kun p-please don't do anything reckless, I-I'll be there in a moment, please tell me where you are."

He didn't know what possessed him to tell him where he was when he first decided that he needed a time alone and now he was longing to see him?

"…Toei Park…"

"T-Toei? T-The one next to that big sports arena? A-Alright, I-I'll be there in a few, don't do anything reckless, please."

The sound of the dial tone came next to Furihata's concerned voice, to have such kind heart is dangerous, what if Akashi was some perverted freak and asked Furihata out at this hour no one would know if he was killed or who killed him, what if someone attacks him on his way? Does he even know the risk he is taking? The thought reminded him of their meeting, Furihata was the kind of person who is so selfless its infuriating, he loves all too much and gives value without putting a price on the things he gives. He is the kind of man who would rush and take a bullet for you even if he just met you, he is the kind of guy who dies first in an action movie, the kind of police officer who gets shot first from covering his comrade, he is the kind of guy you'd see saving the world whilst he couldn't even fix his own life. Furihata and his agonizing sense of compassion and sympathy.

Toei park had been quite a sentimental place for Akashi, he had spent three birthdays here with a surprise from his parents. Then they would proceed to the aquarium next. Back then, he never thought a day like this would come. After talking with the servant Akashi asked his chaffaur to bring him to the park and leave him there, after a few debate about his security and all the chauufer left the young man on his own and then which the other had spent the next few hours alone with his thoughts. The same thoughts brought Akashi to Furihata, how far was it from Furihata's house again, thinking of it, he realized it might be quite some distance to the brunette's house. Maybe it was really a bad idea even thinking to call him—he wouldn't let him on his own, surely.

Out of boredom Akashi had started to slightly move the swing back and forth. The silence somehow had become heavier as he waited for Furihata's arrival, why does time seems longer when he thought of him and knowing he isnt with him? He wondered if he grew up with Kuroko would he feel differently, the thought was interrupted by a sound of metal and something spinning fast. Before Akashi knew it he found a poorly dressed brunette in a bike stumbling in his feet as he tried to get off his bike. For some reason Akashi thought this scene is familiar, a short brunette with wide eyes and matching eyes walking towards him in pure concern—

"Akashi-kun!" his voice was pleasant to his ears like having an ice cold bath after getting a sunburn in a summer day. Akashi didn't move from his seat watching the scene before him. Furihata discarded the bike in the street and just ran towards him, with merely the streetlights illuminating his features Akashi couldn't help but say he looked ethereal. Like an angel after all those weary and dreadful days, in a cold, in the middle of the dawn.

 _Huh?_ Akashi stared at the other, he couldn't keep up, he seems to be saying however Akashi is busy processing some information, including how familiar Furihata looks like right then. Somehow…he seems as if he had seen this before. In the middle of the night…there in that park.

"Akashi-kun!" Akashi snapped as he realized Furihata was standing right before him, looking up, Akashi found the other covered in a thin layer of sweat, catching his breath that was fogging up in the air.

 _He…came just as I asked him to._

 _Why?_

 _…_

What would Furihata gain? Was there anything he could gain from this? Akashi's cynical thoughts debated with him, however, the debate ended with nothingness…Furihata Kouki basically had nothing to gain from this however…he was there in the middle of nowhere risking all the dangers of this hour to come and make sure he is alright. How…strangely, comforting and…terrifying.

Before Akashi could even utter a word, he saw Furihat collapsed to his knees with his hands in Akashi's knees. Baffled and confused the heir decided to wait for the other to speak his mind, it was as if Furihata just fill in the silence, he was always the one to fill in the blanks for Akashi and those words…seemed to fit so perfectly. It made such perfect sense it was almost strange.

"I'm just…glad you're okay." Was all Furihata said, and that was all it took for Akashi's heart to be shaken by some unknown force. Furihata's voice sounded so…so scared, like some kid who got lost in middle of the department store and at last found his mother, or a father saving his child from the brink of death. Furihata's hands in his knees were warm, and for some strange reasons he wanted to feel them between the spaces of his fingers, his palm against his. What would it feel like to be so close to him? It was risky, he thought, however the weight in his chest somehow got ahead of him and there was just—without thinking, Akashi decided that he needed Furihata, _now_. And he pulled his slender wrist with his ice cold hands, and as his beautiful earth tone eyes gaze upon the naked soul of his mismatched eyes Akashi knew he had taken a lot more than he had bargained for—and he didn't mind. He swiftly and greedly engulfed him in a bone crushing embrace, and buried his face in the hollow of his shoulders as if silently pleading the brunette to hide him from all the eyes that were and would be judging him by the way he will be acting that very moment. Akashi expected the worst, rejection, he expected the brunette to be disgusted, perplexed, confused, angry and push him away for acting such a lofty. However, Furihata did none of that.

"I-its okay." Furihata said in a calming tone. Furihata was like a blanket in a cold cold night, you wouldn't want to let go of it and you just…want to have it all for yourself, grip it tighter around yourself—only yours. And Akashi did just as that, the small wrist in his other hand he gripped it tighter, as if telling the other never to go, never to leave. And Furihata without needing any words did as just that. It hurts, but the other disregarded the pain when he saw a much larger agony before him in the form of Akashi's trembling back. The brunette hesitantly raised his other free hand to the other's back and started to pat the other with a soothing motion. "Y-You'll be…okay." He whispered.

Akashi closed his eyes and remembered…this surely did happen before—

 _"_ _Huh?"_

 _Akashi blinked and saw a little boy in his pajamas staring at him, he was just as tall as him then, with big brown eyes and mousy hair, "What are you doing here alone? Its late." He said to him. Akashi blinked in confusion._

 _"_ _I should say that to you as well."_

 _"_ _I'm not sleepy." The brown haired boy said as he took the empty swing next to his. "And you?"_

 _"_ _I…don't want to sleep."_

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _"_ _My…dad…he's…"_

 _"_ _Its okay…you don't have to say." The boy said, Akashi nodded. However, he wasn't prepared for the next events, he saw the boy jumped out of the his swing and walked towards Akashi, he tip-toed and reached the other's head and patted it, "My mommy does that when I am do my best! I know you're doing your best to! You've done a good job! So its okay now, it's okay to—"_

"Its okay to be tired for now Akashi-kun."

Akashi gripped the material of Furihata's jacket and pulled him impossible close, "I…I don't want to…get tired…yet."

Furihata smiled, Akashi is stubborn in his own way, a bit childish when it counts, maybe it was because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, however, seeing the way the other was acting, Furihata realized maybe it was more than being spoiled, maybe it was the opposite of that. Maybe Akashi didn't had enough of it, or lost it all too soon. It was almost sad to see the man he idolized in the field of his favourite sport come down to this, however this made him thought how _human_ this child prodigy is. Akashi had limits. Akashi has flaws. And it was alright, it is fine. Though Furihata doesn't know what the other may be going through he realized that the only thing he could truly offer the other was this, his time, his ears, his arms.

"I know," Furihata replied as he raised his hand and slowly reached to Akashi's soft scarlet hair, "but you don't have to be anything right now, you can just…be Akashi-kun."

"Then…just…just stay with me…for now, tomorrow, you can forget about me, or this. You don't have to remember this, but would you…for now…stay here?"

Furihata had no intention of forgetting, and he didn't mind if he had to be reminded of this moment every time, he wouldn't mind every single day to remember this very hour.

"Of course."


	9. Chapter 9

_So foremost I want to extend my greatest condolences to our fellow French readers, and authors out there, I pray for your safety guys and those who live around the area and those who have love ones in the area. I pray for their safety and for those who lost someone, I know that no words can console a heart that had lost a beloved, but please do know that there is someone still looking after you, there is someone still in need for you. May you find the strength to continue, and may justice be served to those who seek them. Also to our fellow Lebanese brothers and sisters, my greatest condolences for those who know someone or were affected by the attack a earlier. May justice prevail, to those who knows anyone who was gravely affected please extend a comforting hand, a pat on the back, or at least a few words of consolation._

 _Anyhow, continuing where we left of, thanks to everyone who reviewed and left a fav and follow, and to cynthiacyvon thank youuuuuu I'm very very happy you liked that scene! I do think Furihata is the reflection of how we are all normally, his presence in the anime makes me think a lot of how much KnB gives a lot of credit to the hard work of those who were born without that "MIRACLE" in them. How REAL life struggle feels like to those who were deemed as normal. And that inspired me to write on how Akashi might see this kind of normality, I mean what might a normal kid looks like to a prodigy. And yes, this story has both Oreshi and Bokushi in one person-I tried to assume an AU where ORE and BOKU are as one, since I've been treating those two as separate entities with my past works. And to AJ-san HOHOHO THANK YOUUUUU FOR THE REVIEW AGAAAIN!AND SAME FOR BUBBLES9595 I gotta scram off guys hope you understand my short notice GTG!_

Chapter 9: **Jealousy is GRAY**

" _Trust gets people killed."_

Kagami Sandra had never set her foot in any cemetery ever since she lived in Japan, firstly was because of the fact that her relatives were buried back in America, and her husband's family kept their remains in the family columbarium. For years, Sandra never thought she'd ever come and see _her_ again. She knows she was the kind of person who would rather be reminded of the way she was when she was alive, however, today was a different matter. Two days ago, Sandra found that boy with his son, a boy with a teal hair, and eyes strikingly similar to her. Stopping at the gravestone Sandra bowed her head politely, just as how she would when she was alive. There were a newly placed bouquet of white lilies there, she smiled thinking this was Seijuuro's doing. The boy knew how his mother loved them. Only Seijuuro diligently visited her grave. Quietly Sandra placed there her own offering, the same white lilies. She offered a silent prayer for her peace before she decided to speak, "Tetsumi-san, please lend my son your guidance. You remember him, yes?" Sandra chuckled dryly, "Back when Taiga was very young you taught me something, do you remember?"

" _You can determine someone's occupation with their hands."_

 _Sandra blinked as she raised her hands from the cup inspecting them. "How?"_

" _Writers have calloused in the side of their middle finger, musicians especially those who uses stringed instruments has calloused in the tips of their fingers—those aren't really the point." Tetsumi said smiling as he looked over and found Sandra's son watching the ants in the garden. "Since you're a woman and mostly you are on your own, you must be very perceptive, this is for you and your son's safety. When you speak with someone watch how they speak to you, the words that they use, the way the respond to you. Also do take note of their hands."_

" _Hand? Why?"_

 _Tetsumi reached for Sandra's hand and shook it, she slightly gripped it—"Old habits die hard, Sandra-san." She said. Sandra's eyes widen as she realized something._

Sandra bit her lower lip, shaking slightly, "A hand which is skilled with handling weapons…they grip with precession and a kind of strength masked with grace…wasn't it Tetsumi-san?" she closed her eyes remembering the events that had unfolded a few days ago. A hand with slightly more heavier grip than normal hands, they were slightly calloused in the space between the thumb and index finger, their palms are slightly rougher. And their eyes would be voided of all emotions—not anger, or fear, not even happiness would show in them. They would look like a mirror, smiling without meaning it. Those were like…

"Tetsumi-san…help my son, please…I hope he's not making a mistake." She said, "Please touch that boy's heart as well…I know he doesn't want to hurt Taiga as well, I know he doesn't want to…but somehow I can't shake this feeling with the way he looked at me. Hate after all…is the twin face of love."

* * *

Furihata checked his phone for the umpteenth time that day since that day that Akashi had come to Tokyo suddenly at 3 AM. He was shock to hear about the other's problem. He had never taken quite interest in the lives of people who were born in the high society. Not because he doesn't care, but it was somehow for Furihata the least of his concern, normal people like him had always thought that they had it easy, but the way Akashi confided to him made him realize it wasn't that easy. Betrayal over blood, money over life, power over family—it was a dark and filthy a game of survival. The last man standing wins. Akashi revealed that he was now in search of his brother, his twin brother he never knew until then, a secret kept to him and the rest of the family for their own safety. A tradition passed down over the years, the omen of having twins in the family. To most people it would have been stupid to kill people over something so trivial, but as Akashi said—those things were only decided by the people. People are the ones who give value to certain things and those values may differ from each person's point of view, for Furihata that may be just a stupid belief, but for the Akashi clan it may mean _everything_. Akashi behind his hard exterior has this soft interior especially to his immediate family, losing both parents at a young age, getting forced to become adult so early for the sake of the inherited title from his parents, and getting betrayed, lied to so many ties in his life. His heart is so strong, it still managed to take him till this moment.

If he was in Akashi's place he doesn't know what will he do. He was not as strong as him. However, the way Akashi held Furihata that moment, it was as if he was the only thing Akashi could believe into. Every time Furihata heard of his name being announced in a basketball game, he saw this regal looking man walking in the court, eyes glinting with absolute perfection, nothing less, nothing more but _perfection_. But that moment, the name that slipped between his lips called to a simple young man, troubled, unsure and with fear. He didn't called for any God reincarnate, but to a teenager just like himself.

"Furihata-kun?"

Furihata yelped in surprised as he heard the familiar monotonous voice. Blinking his shock away he found the familiar teal haired boy standing next to his seat, "Ah K-Kuroko-kun!" he greeted. Lookong at the other somehow something seems…different in the other. Why does it looks like he was…smiling? His lips were pressed in the same straight line, his eyes were the same but somehow something told Furihata something was new about him. "A-Are you feeling better? I-I heard from Kagami you were sick last time."

Kuroko bowed his head, "Thank you for your concern," he said politely before presenting the other a small rectangular item wrapped in a light blue paper. "Please have it, I hope you like it. Its for all the trouble I've caused you."

Furihata's face burnt in embarrassment, "T-There's no need!" he said flustered, Kuroko sounds so formal almost strikingly familiar with Akashi and somehow the thought made him flustered beyond words. Akashi was the kind of person who was to resort to this kind of things after all, "I-I mean that's nothing you don't have to."

"Are you…rejecting my gift then?"

Furihata's eyes widen, _huh?_ If he said that Kuroko might think he didn't like his gift and that's _not_ what he meant. "I-Its not like that." Furihata said as he took the gift, "T-Thank you, but next time you don't have to do this Kuroko. We're _friends_ so that's something we do for each other, you don't have to give gifts everytime."

Kuroko stared at him for a whole one minute without blinking making Furihata uncomfortable, did he said something wrong? Akashi really is like Kuroko in so many ways and it was all…in a wrong way, like staring to people. Kuroko stopped staring and for a short moment Furihata swore in the name of all existing Shinto Gods he saw a small in those lips. "Do you…mean it Furihata-kun?" he asked making Furihata chuckle, of course he does.

"Of course." He said smiling, "By the way do you want to go watch the practice match today?"

"Practice…match?" Kuroko asked confused.

"Basketball I mean."

Kuroko blinked in surprise, "Why weren't you there Furihata-kun?" Kuroko asked curiously.

"I asked coach to get a few days off since the exam week is close and I can't afford to get my grades off the mark, I'll get kicked out of the club if I do." Furihata answered chuckling. Kuroko nodded. "So shall we?"

* * *

"Sei-chan, you've been staring at your phone are you waiting for someone's call?"

"No."

Mebuchi Reo sweat dropped as he peered from the scarlet haired basketball captain's shoulder, he was indeed just randomly scanning through in the inbox of his mail, when did the great Akashi Seijuuro ever been this engrossed with his phone? Since that morning something was off about Akashi. He was less grumpy, less strict, but still the himself. Mebuchi was curious by the way Akashi seems to be constantly reaching for his phone even if there was no incoming call. And as far as he knows Akashi, the guy was the less likely person who would exchange mails with someone—or maybe not. There was really something about those message, he recognized all of the names in the inbox except one— _Furihata Kouki_. There was two or three mails from the other from what appeared in the screen. _Kouki…_ A girl? Blinking the thought Mebuchi chuckled to himself, like hell Akashi would be fawning over a girl. Well it could be the other way around—but seeing how Akashi was behaving—

"Should you be in this class?" Akashi asked without tearing his eyes away from his phone.

"Eh, but how can I ever miss this opportunity!' Mebuchi made an exaggerated sigh, "I mean is it _someone_ Sei-chan?"

To Mebuchi's surprise Akashi tensed for a second before turning to Mebuchi with a glare—yep, _BINGO!_ Mebuchi chuckled nervously. "So what if it is?" The scarlet haired heir said nonchalantly. "Leave me alone Reo."

"EEH! ARE YOU SERIOUS SEI-CHAN!" Mebuchi exclaimed in shock loud enough to make the whole class who a moment ago was oblivious of his presence turned to him. Mebuchi chuckled nervously at them muttering _excuse me_ and _sorry_. Turning again to the scarlet haired younger male, Mebuchi was shock. Did Akashi Seijuuro just admitted he was waiting for a message from someone? _THE GREAT AKASHI SEIJUURO_? The heir of one of Japan's biggest and most successful companies, just admitted he was at mercy of _someone?_ Akashi sighed making the older male shock—when did he ever learn to sigh like that? WHO was the one who could make him sigh like this?

"Will you stop exaggerating Reo its infuriating." Akashi said before slipping his phone back to pocket of his pants. "What is it to you anyways, will you _kindly_ leave this class, as the student council president as well I could not allow you loitering around."

"B-BUT SEI-CHAN ITS LUNCH ANYWAYS!" Mebuchi retorted, "Also, who is it Sei-chan, did you get a girlfriend already? Why didn't you tell us? How long have you been together, is she cute, what does she looks like, is she from around here, oooor maybe is she in _this_ class? Sei-chan, Sei-cha—" Mebuchi was cut off with Akashi's eyes cold glare, a glare that told Mebuchi he'll get an instant haircut in a matter of seconds if he does not bug off.

Akashi folded his arms over his chest as he leaned in his seat, "That person isn't from around here." He started, "You could say…there's nothing special about that person, not very good looking or special."

"EEH THEN YOU REALLY WERE DATING?!"

Akashi sighed again, he feels like his eardrums will be ripped off the next twenty more minutes with Mebuchi next to him, "Reo, will you _calm_ down?" Akashi said. "And to answer that, no. We are not dating…yet."

"Yet?" Mebuchi blinked, wait…could it be that—"Sei-chan is the one who likes this girl?"

Akashi was quiet for a moment, could it be…could it be that Furihata doesn't feel the same way? Is it possible that Furihata saw him as a friend, _just_ a friend? And he was doing all those things because it was simply his nature to be this concerned of everyone? He was the one who fell first, that was true which was strange. Furihata said he idolized Akashi yet look at him falling first for the simple, average, barely special brunette. "Yes. What of it?" Akashi asked. Mebuchi's face showed utter shock, was it really that strange for him to be the one who first fall for someone? It wasn't as if it was intended, it just sort of…happened? And besides, it wasn't hard to fall for someone like Furihata, right? With all those chocolate brown eyes and his gentle ways, how can someone walk pass this boy without noticing him?

"You... _wow_ …" Mebuchi was unsure, Akashi…was at the mercy of a girl's love? "But…is she really that simple? I mean Sei-chan couldn't possibly fall in love with someone so simple and plain—"

"I told you there's nothing striking about her, do take me as a liar?"

"Nope." Mebucchi chuckled, "But I think Sei-chan was only saying those so no one would take interest to know her and that means you don't have to fight with anyone for her attention."

Furihata's attention huh? Well that sounds like a dilemma, what if Furihata finds a liking to someone, a girl. A cute girl, timid and modest? The thought didn't sit well with him. He did think that people should notice Furihata more, they should realize how precious he is—however thinking that people would start taking a liking to furihata and Furihata giving them more attention made something in his chest clench. He wants him to wake up for him at 3 AM, he wants him to look _only_ at him.

"Maybe."

Mebuchi chuckled, "You should know that already Sei-chan, you should make a move though."

"A move…"

"Yeah, why wait for her message, why not message her?"

"What would I say then?"

"Why are you asking me Sei-chan? You should know, you're the one who knows her." Mebuchi said chuckling, he didn't expect their genius captain was this oblivious about dating someone, "Ask her out!" Ask her out…a date…well that sounds like a good idea, after all he needed to make up for the trouble he caused the other. However the thought of troubling the other again made Akashi hesitate. Was he allowed to have someone like Furihata so close to him?

"Sei-chan?"

Akashi's line of thoughts was cut when he turned to see Mebuchi smiling at him, "Its rare to see you so mindful of someone, she must have been very special." Mebuchi said, the fact that someone was able to catch Akashi's very intricate taste was enough evidence that whoever it may be, it isn't just _anybody_. That person for some reason may have meant _a lot_ to Akashi. Ever since Akashi enrolled to Rakuzan, the heir was nothing more than your typical rich young master, he was a genius, perfection incarnate, he was rarely intrigued by anything because of the simple fact that he knew of them already and had it so easily. Girls went to him, men admired him, Akashi had everything in the tips of his fingertips, people danced in the palm of his hands. He looked at everyone with that bored expression it was almost sad, and now for the first time he looked lost, confused, so…humanly—

 _To love is to be vulnerable_.

"Sei-chan just do it, sometimes you just need to worry later."

Akashi smiled, well…Furihata was that kind of person as well. The kind of person who would strike before thinking—maybe it wasn't bad to do so. Maybe it wasn't bad to think like Furihata once in a while. Akashi hummed and fished out his phone again.

"Reo do you know any good place to take anyone in Tokyo?"

* * *

When the two students arrived at the gym, the game was already finished, the two teams were bowing at each other, Kuroko's eyes turned to look at the score board— _Kaijo_? Ah, that school, huh? He had heard of that Kaijo was quite a famous school for handling a few elites in Tokyo. A fairly big school compared to Seirin. The game was won by the Kaijo with a one point difference—wow, the game must have been intense, Kuroko thought. He didn't have much of knowledge about basketball anyway, so he wasn't really sure. The two opposing teams both shook their hands before dispersing, Kuroko spotted Kagami in the corner grabbing a white towel from the bench, Furihata excused himself saying he was going to speak with their coach and Kuroko could go talk to Kagami now since the game was already done. Nodding Kuroko watched as Furihata waved and left to where Aida Riko was standing. Tearing his eyes away Kuroko decided to walk towards Kagami however he stopped when he found a tall blonde guy walking towards Kagami with this huge grin. Kuroko watched as the blonde spoke casually to Kagami about something. Kagami scowled but he didn't look angry, it looks like the same way he would look at him… _almost_. The thought made this strange tugged in his chest. Before he knew it he was starting to walk towards the two who were both oblivious of his presence—

"Kagami-kun." Kuroko said making the two yelp in surprise. Kagami turned to Kuroko and as if automatic impulse the tall crimson haired brought his hands rand gripped that teal head. "Ouch."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Kagami roared. Kuroko removed the hand away from his head staring at Kagami's eyes. "Showing up today, are you sure you should be at school?"

"Thank you for your concern Kagami-kun but I might feel worse just staying home alone."

Kagami sighed and suddenly he remembered Kise's presence, "Ah, Kuroko, by the way this is Kise." Kagami gestured at the doe-eyed blonde standing next to Kagami now. His eyes were almost sparkling as they stare wide at the Kuroko. "Oi Kise, ta—"

Before Kagami could finish his words he suddenly grabbed Kuroko's hands and made this princely pose showing off his model features which of course annoyed the crimson haired ace. "What may be your name oh angel who fell in this barren land?" Kagami supressed the urge to land a chop over Kise's empty skull from calling Seirin a barren land, Kuroko however beat Kagami to it by sliding off his hands from the basketball player's grip and nonchalantly wiping off his hands with the material of his pants.

"Kise-san, right?" Kuroko said making Kise's eyes sparkled even more by the thought the other recognizing him quick—"Your hands are sweaty."

 _BOOM!_ Kagami stared unblinking for a moment before curling in a corner in a fit of laughter as Kise stared wide eye at Kuroko who just stared back. He just got rejected! Kuroko simply bowed his head from the other, "My name is Kuroko Tetsuya." He said formally. Kise faked a cry as he turned away.

"Kurokocchi why so mean!"

"I am not Kise-san, I was merely stating the fact."

Kise stopped and turned again to Kuroko. He wondered why such jewel was among these sea of commoners, something was really wrong about Seirin recently, first was Kagami Taiga, this strangely prodigy in basketball that didn't appear until this day—and secretly the heir of a large business. And now this beautiful creature one dares to call human. Kise couldn't deny the fact that if this boy was in the same industry as him he would have been jealous, skin was white as chalk, eyes blue as the cloudless sky and his hair that was of the similar shade. His eyelashes were long and almost femine. There was this strange beauty he held—like an art piece. How come he didn't meant him before? Kise smiled at the teal haired boy, a smile that _never_ failed to get anyone flustered at him—never until today. Kuroko didn't falter, his eyes staring at point blank right at him.

"Oi!" Kise blinked and found Kagami walking to Kuroko's side. Kuroko stopped with the staring competition with the blonde and turned to the crimson haired basketball player with a questioning look. "You stare too much." The words were fired at Kise which made the other shock. Did Kagami…somehow, stealth threatened him? However what surprised the blonde more was when Kagami grabbed the teal haired boy's elbow and yanked him to his back. Kise's eyes widen as he saw a spark of reaction in those pool of cold and supposedly blank blue eyes as they stare at Kagami. "You're scaring him blondie."

Kise faked a pout and huffed, "Not fair!" he whined.

"Not fair? YOU WERE PRACTICALLY EYE RAPING HIM!"

"Kagami-cchi is such a pervert! I wasn't thinking something like that!" Kise retorted, "Such potty mouth!"

 _-cchi?_ Kuroko pondered to himself as he turned towards Kagami. He was blushing…could it be that…Kuroko frowned, "…cchi?" he found himself whispering under his breath.

The two stopped the bickering as they heard the other mutter those words. Kise was about to ask if something wrong when—

"KISE! Oi we need to pack you idiot come here!"

Kise chuckled awkwardly, "Eh I think I need to go now, bye! I'll see you guys around!" Kise winked at Kuroko who was absent minded and thoughts were flying somewhere else and didn't notice, Kagami however saw it and send Kise a warning glare. "Bye bye bee!" Kise waved as he jogged away from the two. The blonde stopped midway to see Kagami looking at Kuroko and grabbing the teal haired boy's arms trying to ask the other if there was something wrong. He wondered if Kagami knows how much that teal haired boy is head over heels with him, and the other way around.

"Kuroko?" Kuroko blinked and raised his head to meet Kagami's eyes. Something struck him in hic chest—anger? Why was he angry? Why did he feel angry all of the sudden, why did he feel so upset…so frustrated? He didn't understand why did he feel this way, he didn't understand the anger bubbling in his system, the hands in his arms felt like a hot steel pressing against his skin, he slapped them away and he saw the shock from the crimson haired boy. "O-Oi, what now?"

What now? What indeed. Kise's voice echoed in his head, the blonde calling Kagami's name and that _stupid_ –cchi at the end of it. Kise's grin aimed for Kagami. He felt his hands clenched into a fist, his nails digging painfully against his palms. "I just came here to say thank you for the other day." Kuroko said and bowed before suddenly turned away. He didn't understand why it suddenly felt painful, why it suddenly felt difficult to breathe, why Kagami's touch suddenly felt burning, why he suddenly just felt angry. He stopped thinking, like a possessed doll he just started walking out of the gym.

"OI KUROKO!"

Kuroko didn't listen and just stormed out, he didn't know, nothing was making sense, Kagami doesn't make sense, why was he so upset with himself, why was he so angry about himself getting angry at Kagami? He should be happy, he should be relieved, at least now there was no difficulty, killing someone you are angry at is easier, right? But why, why did he felt like—Kuroko stopped and he suddenly turned to the nearest wall and without thinking punched it with his bare knuckles. It didn't hurt at all, what hurts was not his knuckles but his chest and his head hurts so much. So much he just wants to curl in the corner and just cry. Cry like he did when Kagami was there. But he didn't want to, he doesn't want to—it should it just with Kagami, and that was the most frustrating part of it again. He bit his lower lip, why, since when did he started thinking like this? Kuroko was about to lunch another punch when he felt another presence behind him and a big hands inching closing to him—abruptly the teal haired boy turned and found a big hand close to his shoulder, tracing the hand to the owner he found the brown haired basketball player.

…

Kuroko felt embarrassed by the way he was found by the older man, however the brunette didn't mention the way he foun kuroko rather was concerned by the bruised knuckles and slightly bleeding. The older male told him to stay put and left, a few moment later he returned with a bandage in hand. The brunette quietly took Kuroko's hand and treat the wound, slowly bandaging them. It was an expert kind of bandaged and Kuroko knew he wasn't the kind of person who was expert at treating wounds. Once finished Kiyoshi sat next to Kuroko there on the ground, they were behind the gym. Kuroko stayed quiet as he pulled his knees to his chest and lowered his head against them. "What made you so upset?" Kiyoshi asked breaking the silence. "To even hurt yourself like this."

"Its my fault."

"Hm?" Kiyoshi asked. He was just refilling his water bottle when he suddenly heard a loud sound somewhere, running to the source he found a familiar teal haired figure shaking. Fear first came to his mind thinking how _dangerous_ it is to anger the teal haired boy however what he saw next told him otherwise, his eyebrows were knitted in pure confusion and guilt. It was when he decided to walk to talk to him. "Is this…about Kagami?"

Kiyoshi braced himself for a lie, Kuroko would surely deny right? And as if he would—Kiyoshi was surprised as he saw Kuroko nodded without raising his head off his knees.

"Did something happen?"

Kuroko didn't react until he slight raised his head, this time Kiyoshi saw the glimpse of the other's puffed and slightly red eyes, "It is my fault." He repeated again, "Kagami-kun…didn't do anything."

"How was it your fault?"

"…I don't know why…am I angry at him."

Kiyoshi chuckled and sweat dropped, "How come you don't know?"

Kuroko shrugged, "I am not sure…it makes me angry…Kise-san makes me angry, Kise-san and Kagami-kun…the idea makes me angrier. It doesn't make sense. But still—" Kuroko buried his face again in his knees out of shame.

Kiyoshi was surprised…though he initially thought Kuroko was a bad guy, the thought was slowly dispatching as he saw him at this state. This is all because of Kagami, he looks like this all because of that basketball idiot. "It makes sense Kuroko." Kiyoshi said simply, "All feelings are valid after all."

Kuroko raised his head to look right at Kiyoshi, "All feelings…what feelings?"

Kiyoshi chuckled and raised his hand to take a hold of Kuroko's bandaged hand, "Jealousy is valid too."

"Kuroko!"

The two froze and slowly turned to find Kagami standing there staring at them wide eye, Kagami's eyes suddenly were glazed with anger when suddenly Kiyoshi let go of Kuroko's hand and stood and walked pass Kagami. Stopping right next to his underclassman, Kiyoshi placed a hand over Kagami's shoulder and left. As soon as Kiyoshi was out of sight Kuroko was surprised to see a different expression in Kagami's eyes, the kind and welcoming feline changed into a wild angry tiger. For the first time Kuroko understood fear.

Kagami without a word suddenly yanked Kuroko's arm forcing the other to stand. "What the fuck was that huh?"

Kuroko winced Kagami's grip was a bit painful, however he knows the other was probably oblivious of that fact probably he doesn't even know the amount of strength he was giving. "W-What are you—"

"What are you doing with Kiyoshi, huh?"

"I was just talking with s-senpai." Kuroko winced again. Remembering his anger a few moments ago, Kuroko summed up his strength and pushed Kagami away. "Leave me alone please!"

"NO! What's wrong with you!" Kagami said angrily, "I don't understand you, one moment you were fine and the suddenly you go walking out me, can you stop making me guess!"

"YOU! You are what's wrong!" Kuroko panted, it was the loudest voice he could have spoken with, his anger boils back again like acid coursing in his veins, his body felt hot, his head felt heavy, his eyes feels painful.

"What did I do now?"

Kuroko suddenly grabbed the material of his uniform in chest and clenched it tightly, "I feel so conflcted! I feel so sad, so angry! WHY KISE-SAN? Why you look at him like that, why Kise-san!" Kagami was shock as he heard Kuroko succumbed to that mess that he was, Kuroko fired a weak punch at Kagami's chest over and over. When Kagami caught those weak wrists, he found Kuroko started shaking and suddenly a drop of water fell to his skin, "Kise-san…likes…Kagami-kun….do you like him as well?"

Kagami was shock…like…Kise? Where on earth did he get that idea? HOW ON EARTH? And was he angry…just because of that? Just because he thought he likes Kise? The thought made the crimson haired player pause, a moment ago…he remember the anger he felt for Kiyoshi and Kise. Kise didn't even try to hide the fact that he seems to have taken quite a liking to Kuroko, and Kiyoshi…he was holding Kuroko's hand just now. Why…was he angry? Did he just think that Kuroko only needed to see him? Did he just got…jealous? Kuroko…was jealous of Kise?

Kuroko's eyes widen as he felt Kagami pushed him to the wall, Kagami let go of his wrist but quickly placed a hand over the side of Kuroko's head trapping the teal haired boy in place.

"What are you do—" Kuroko's eyes widen as he saw Kagami inching close to him—

"Kise likes you did you know that?" Kuroko shivered as Kagami whispered low to his ears, the taller male's body was so close to him almost entrapping him in a body cage.

"N-No that's impossible." Kuroko said trying to push Kagami away, "And b-besides t-that nickname, d-doesn't that mean you two are… _like that_?"

Kagami chuckled and didn't budge with he slid his hand from the side of Kuroko's head and caught one of Kuroko's hand and pressed it to the wall, "Kise calls everyone he _respects_ that way." He said making the teal haired boy tensed from the wrong assumption. Slowly Kagami inched away and found Kuroko's cheeks dusted the same color with his hair, Kagami found himself smiling. "Does it makes you scared, does it anger you…the thought of me with someone else?"

Kuroko lowered his head, his head said it was wrong, he should tell him, if he does he will be vulnerable, naked before his own opponent but despite effectively sealing his lips, his body gave way and his head raised up and down, nodding. He cursed every fiber of his current state.

"Kuroko…" Kagami decided to take this risk, his heart hammered in his chest, "Do you…like me?"

The word sent warning signals to every parts of his rational mind, however his body kep resisting, and before he knew it tears were streaming down his face again, "No! I-I don't!" he exclaimed but tears were drowning him, why wont his body just cooperate, he internally exclaimed. Its not fair, not at all! The way his voice cracked and crumble under Kagami's honest eyes wasn't fair! It was so easy for Kagami to say that and yet Kuroko cant even compose himself.

"Liar."

Kuroko felt Kagami's calloused fingers caressing his cheek as his free hand reached him, he sobbed and trembled vehemently. Kagami smiled at the sight, Kuroko was really not used to being honest with his feelings. "Didn't I told you…not to lie anymore?" Kagami whispered, "I think I do like you though, so let's try and change your answer." Kuroko was surprised as he felt Kagami's hand angled him towards the other and he felt hot breathe fanning against his cheeks. His face quickly felt warm as he found Kagami closing the gap between them and eyes slowly closing.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9: Pull Down Hell**

His eyes widen, he could feel his heart banging against his rib cages as those slightly dry lips press against his. Whoever said that this feeling is pleasant? It isn't, it was painful, the way his chest drums against his ribs were painful, knowing and needing someone so much hurts, and it was in no way delightful. Not understanding why his body feels that way is painful, annoying, confusing.

The kiss was chaste, no more than a press of lips against the other. Kagami raised his hand to caress the smooth cheek, his warm hands felt contrast against Kuroko's damp and slightly cold cheeks. Kuroko involuntary inhaled Kagami's scent, it was a scent mixed of something like mint and sweat, and something uniquely Kagami. Until then Kuroko wondered, why didn't his body protest? Where was his automatic response? Isn't this a dangerous situation, however instead of an adrenaline rush Kuroko's body relaxed against the other's touch. Kuroko couldn't understand himself anymore, was it because Kagami was a paradox itself? He was aggressive yet he held him like this, his feelings were like ice against his burning skin, it hurts and it felt nice in the same time.

The taller male broke the kiss with blush tainting his cheeks that mirrored the smaller male's. Kuroko's surprised expression didn't leave his face, for a moment Kagami was lost on what to say or do. He realized the extent of his bold actions, however it was too late to back down. Sneaking his arms around the other's waist he pulled him close in a warm embrace.

"Do I disgust you?" Kagami whispered in the side of Kuroko's head, his teal locks felt soft against the crimson haired male's skin, "Does my feelings…troublesome for you?"

Does it? Kuroko asked himself. Why him of all people? Kuroko didn't understand how Kagami could feel the way he does to him, Kagami wasn't supposed to like him back. It was enough already that he has fallen irreversibly to the crimson haired heir. And now the other has fallen for him as well. Does it bother him that Kagami likes him? Perhaps it does bother him, it bothers him by the fact that he couldn't fight the way his hands tremble now, he couldn't fight the way he feels under his embrace, it bothers him because clearly this way, he can't even find the will to even push the other, the more to kill him. And he knows this was the moment he should push Kagami away, this was the deciding moment.

And yet instead, as if his arms found a life of its own, it lifted and grabbed the back of Kagami's jersey. He felt helpless under the spell of this man, and the frustration found it's way to Kuroko's vocal chords and eyes as he started sobbing again like a child. To reduce the humiliation that he was already so deep into, Kuroko hid his face in that welcoming chest.

Its unfair, he knows he wouldn't be able to say no if he loves him back.

No, its not pleasant at all, love hurts…so, so much.

Needing someone to the point of breaking, longing for someone to the point of insanity, wanting someone only to yourself to the point of obsession—it doesn't feel good, it feels like a dull knife carving in your skin repeatedly, it feels like a hot iron pressing against your poor soul.

…

Furihata wondered couldn't help but feel concerned about Kagami and Kuroko, he didn't expect to see the two having an argument that heated. Truthfully, the brunette wasn't really sure if it was even really an argument. He suddenly found Kagami calling Kuroko's voice out loud, and when he turned he found Kuroko storming out of the gym, behind Kagami followed him walking briskly. Now that he thought of it, he had never seen them had fought before. Their personalities clashes with each other so much that he never thought that the two would ever get along, but the past few days proved the him wrong. Kuroko seems a bit more self-concious when he is around Kagami, while Kagami seems more relaxed around Kuroko, and despite their bickering every now and then they never really been in a serious fight with each other.

The last class is now over, and yet there was not even the shadow of the two. Kiyoshi however came and said that they were alright and the did indeed got into an argument with each other but were already settling things with each other. Somehow something about the way Kiyoshi spoke about the teal haired student sounds different. Unable to perceive whatever that difference is, Furihata decided to brush off the idea. Kiyoshi brought the duo's bag with him and said the two were in the gym and were reconciling. The word made Furihata chuckle, Kiyoshi almost made it sound like an old couple having a fight over a remote control.

Furihata's thoughts were suddenly ceased when he realized something, the female students were crowding in the front gate while whispering about each other.

To the brunette's surprise, he saw a familiar hair—he gasped seeing a mop of scarlet. Inevitably, the owner of the rare color turned to Furihata's way and uncrossed his arms that fell to his side before he flashes a melting smile making every girl in the sight squeal. What was he doing there, _now_? Furihata internally panics, and felt embarrassment filled him with the attention Akashi was now giving him.

"Kouki."

Furihata almost gave an undignified squeak when he heard Akashi called his name. Akashi merely chuckled and walked towards him. He looks out of place in the sea of commoners, like a king walking down among his pawns.

"Kouki." Akashi called again as he was standing merely a feet away from the brunette, the brunette was staring hard at the scarlet haired young man, "You're not dreaming Kouki."

When Furihata blushed, Akashi found himself chuckling, he was indeed too easy to read.

"W-What are you doing here A-Akashi-kun?" Furihata asked almost whispering.

"Can I not see you?" Akashi asked slightly feeling guilty, "Is it not a good time?"

"I-Its not l-like that i-its just I…I guess…I'm just a bit surprised."

Akashi smiled, that enough was alright. However, looking around Akashi understand the discomfort the brunette was feeling. After all he wanted to speak with the brunette, just the two of them. He didn't fancy the squeals and giggles of the nosy school girls.

"I hope you don't have anything to do today." Akashi said as he suddenly snatched Furihata's bag from him.

"W-What—Akashi-kun t-that's mine I-I can carry them myself."

"No." Akashi insisted, "Come, I don't fancy nosy girls, it is distracting me from my initial purpose."

"W-What do you mea—"

"You'll know when he got off from here."

Without another word Akashi grabbed the small wrist in his free hand and pulled him out of the school gates. Furihata wasn't able to protest anymore, Akashi seems unaffected by the stares of the people around them. He wondered how Akashi got there in the first place, and now that he thinks about it, the other was still wearing his school uniform. To be seen with someone from a prestigious school half way out of Tokyo, he might look like a small mutt next to a pedigree. Akashi walked a bit too quickly for Furihata's liking but surely he didn't simply wasted two hours of travel time just for nothing, yes? Was it about the other day?

Finally reaching the end of the block Akashi released his hold and turned towards Furihata. The scarlet haired young man left all his things back in his estate except for his wallet and phone, he decided that maybe Mebuchi was right. To know what he really feels, no…he knows already what he feels towards the other, he needs him to know that…and maybe, it would be great if he get him to return the feelings as well. He wasn't really sure though if he was doing it right, and he wanted to do it right.

"I'm sorry for not giving a notice beforehand." Akashi started. "I know it is troublesome, however I still decided to do that, it is what I am asking for apology for."

Furihata was startled, he almost felt a sweat dropped, Akashi really couldn't tear this rich kid personality in him. But somehow the thought of the other apologizing was fresh, "I-Its alright. I wanted to know that you are doing fine anyways…" Furihata trailed in his words, "You didn't mail me since then so I thought…"

"You thought what?"

"That you didn't want to talk to me anymore."

Akashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I guess its my fault then."

"Eh?"

"It was my fault I said."

Furihata shook his head, "I-Its not that…I-I mean, uh…Why is it your fault, what do you mean?"

"I was a bit hesitant to mail you." Akashi admitted, his hand unconsciously gripping a bit more tighter on the strap of Furihata's bag. "Its not your fault, it is mine. I let things get into me and I started thinking unnecessary thoughts…like how I might trouble you even more if I ever call or message you again."

"T-That's ridiculous Akashi-kun I would never—"

"I know." Akashi cuts him mid-sentence, "That was why I said it was purely my fault. And also that is why I am here."

"You…wanted to see me?" Furihata mentally scolded himself, how dare he think that the child prodigy, his great idol, the heir of one of Japan's biggest booming corporations, is there to see him—of all people, him. However the smile in Akashi's lips told him that his assumption, may be a tiny, itsy, bitsy, correct this time.

"Is it bad that I do?"

Furihata took a sharp intake of air as the scarlet haired young man said those words. He had never been given as much attention as those beautiful eyes were showering him right then, it was bth uncomfortable yet not entirely unpleasant. "Come, I intend to make it up to you." Akashi said before taking Furihata's wrist again, "Where would you prefer to eat?"

.

.

.

Furihata was not sure what to say, maybe he was wrong to chose this place of all, the scarlet haired young man look more out of place in a local fast food chain. Furihata squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, he didn't know what to tell the other when he was asked where they should settle for a quick lunch, the brunette didn't know any place that would accommodate someone like Akashi, a place maybe like a simple restaurant, and to think of ever stepping in to anywhere people like Akashi would normaly would go, it made him even more nervous. And thus ended up choosing this place, which may not be the best idea—Furihata thought. Their orders were already in the table, seems like Akashi decided to take whatever Furihata ordered, typical gentleman he thought as he fiddled with the wrapping of his burger.

Meanwhile Akashi was caught with the sight outside, they were sitting next to the glass wall of the place where he could see the passers-by. He likes watching and observing people much to many people's fear. He doesn't mean to be intimidating—well not everytime, but yes, maybe it was his eyes, however that never had stopped him from his guilty pleasure of watching and observing from afar—however, recently he realized watching from afar does not satify him at all, especially in the case of a certain brunette. Turning towards the other, he found Furihata nervously fiddling with his food, now that he thought of it, he had never, had a burger in his entire life.

"Is it good?" he found himself asking the other. The brunette looked up at him in confusion, "I was asking if the burger is good."

"Oh. Oh!" Furihata suddenly straighten his back and realized his food will get cold if he does not eat it yet, "Uh, well p-personally?"

Akashi chuckled, "Of course, I am asking your opinion after all."

"W-Well yes."

"This is my first time eating in a…uh…fast food, yes." Akashi said as he watched the other stop midway from his task of unwrapping the food.

"A-Are you serious, l-like never?"

Akashi nodded. When his mother was still alive, she cooked for him, after she passed away the maids made sure to have all meals prepared every day for him. Even after entering Rakuzan, Akashi was always dragged by the rest of the basketball team in some fancy restaurant, if the site was bar, the scarlet haired heir would decline—he never liked drinking liquor outside. Fast food never occurred to him, well he thought they were messy and greasy, very unsightly. But…

"Here you need to taste it!" Furihata said enthusiasticly as he suddenly leaned close to Akashi's side of the table with the burger half unwrapped and urging the other to take a bite. Hiss excitement probably had clouded his usual self-consciousness as the brunette didn't realize the close proximity.

The heir couldn't help but feel heat rushing in his cheeks as he stared right at the auburn orbs, even his eyes were smiling, but not the kind of smile he used to get meeting other people, Furihata's smile was warm and kind, excited and he dare to say—charming. Like a bunny's charm.

Akashi took a small bite from Furihata's food ignoring the fact that he has his own food, after all he couldn't miss this small act of aggression of the perpetually shy ball of brown mop. To Akashi's surprise despite the grease and oil—it tasted…surprisingly good. It was salty and a bit sweet, the meat was good too.

"So how was it?" Furihata's eyes were wide in excitement and anticipation.

"Great." Akashi replied truthfully as he stare down at his own food, "I never thought something mass produced would taste good. I commend you Kouki for suggesting this place to me, next time I will bring the rest of the team here."

Furihata chuckled which caused Akashi's heart to make a sudden jump, how dare he chuckle so… _so_ sweetly. He can't be so perfect. "That would be great experience, yes?" Furihata said before taking a bite from his food nonchalantly.

Akashi almost stopped the other, however the brunette was not bothered at all by the fact that someone had eaten a part of his own food, unlike Akashi on a normal basis he would never, ever, let anyone be close enough as to use the same spoon as him. But when he thought of it—what if it was Furihata? Would he still retaliate about it? Maybe not. Being with the brunette never fails to make Akashi think of many 'what ifs', not that it mattered though, he thought that among all the hestitations he had before, Fuirhata's existence was the most beautiful 'what if'.

"You never cease to amuse me Kouki." Akashi said as he unwrapped his food and just took a bite casually. However from the corner of his eyes he saw Furihata almost choking in his food and suddenly his cheeks turned red. He really is not used to getting compliments, huh?

He wondered why no one would date someone like Kouki, he is the best model of the kindness of heart, innocence and sincerity. Wouldn't that something a woman would die for to have? However the very thought of a girl confessing to Furihata put him on edge, who knows, they might just take advantage of him—Furihata being the kind soul he was wouldn't mind, would _never_ get angry.

Akashi watched quietly as Furihata started feeling a bit more eased around him while he eats, he liked this, he decided, when Furihata speaks so honestly, when he make this slightly exaggerated gestures and his gentle chuckle. Akashi never liked places like fast food it was filled with noisy people, but today this noisy placed looked so beautiful behind Furihata Kouki's figure. His auburn eyes were shining, his smile intoxicating.

"What about you Akashi-kun?"

Akashi blinked, "I…didn't quite catch what you were asking."

"Oh, I was asking about your favourite books, you see I am part of our library committee."

Akashi smiled, who would have thought Kouki had the similar interest as him, "I like Souseki's works personally." As he said those word Furihata's eyes lit a hundred watts.

"ME TOO!" Furihata exclaimed excitedly.

Akashi quietly listened as Furihata voiced his opinions on the author's most famed works. Somehow, the way Furihata said and narrated the stories were much different from the way he would have felt when he read the works, and he couldn't help but listen intently to brunette. He made romance feel like real romance, he made words into feelings, and pain feel much more meaningful. Before he knew it he found himself smiling. "You should try writing Kouki." Akashi said as he raised the plastic cup of cola to his lips before taking a quietly.

"Eh?"

Akashi smiled gently making Furihata's heart leap from his chest, the young man propped his elbow in the table and rested his chin against his knuckles, "Why not?"

"W-Why—Eh, I mean, why would you think that Akashi-kun?"

"I just get this feeling that you'll be a good one." Akashi replied, "So far as I am concerned, I've never been wrong."

Furihata almost choke in his own breathe hearing Akashi say those with absolute confidence. Well, who was he kidding anyways, this is Akashi Seijuuro he was talking about.

"I-I'll…t-try then."

"You should believe a bit more too yourself."

"T-That's difficult, e-easier said than done."

Akashi sighed as he turned away looking outside, "Kouki, say…do you want to go somewhere else?"

"Eh?"

"Just reply with yes or no."

"Huh? I-I don't, w-what do you mean s-somewhere—"

"Is that a no?"

"No, I-I mean y-yes! I-I mean I-I say yes t-to your offer to go outside."

Akashi stared at the brunette for a moment before chuckling, "It's settled then."

.

.

.

Furihata felt like melting right then and there, he shifted in his weight as he lean against the wall, how did Akashi coaxed him to go to the aquarium at this hour, looking around he found himself blushing, Akashi was standing in the line of commoners buying tickets for two while carrying his bag. Behind Akashi were students and couples and it was starting to look more like…a date. The brunette blushed harder at the thought. There were really, a lot of other ways for Akashi to make it up for him aside from this, he wonders why Akashi decided for this for all. And seriously, Akashi should stop asking permission if he was going to push his own idea to him—it was giving option A as to follow his lead and option B to answer option A, which was seriously unfair.

Not that Furihata actually feels bothered, seeing this side of someone of high social status was refreshing as well. Akashi looks slightly confused on how to get the ticket and it looks quite charming and new, Akashi was trying his best to fit in and it was really nice change of phase. Slowly the intimdating first impression he had to the other had dispatched into something else—because Akashi Seijuuro was more than his title as a heir, he was more than a rich kid studying in a good exclusive school. Akashi was a tender soul beneath those mismatched eyes, Akashi is a simple young man capable of feeling emotions, of pain, sadness, regret, Akashi is perfection triumphed over flaws.

"Kouki." Akashi called the brunette holding out the two tickets in his hand, "Apologies, the queue is quite long."

"Its alright." Furihata replied.

"Let's go." Akashi said.

The two walked side by side as they continued their way to the aquarium. As they passed the entrance and lobby, they were quickly welcomed by the soft and gentle blue light reflecting from the water. Luckily there wasn't as many people as the aquarium usually would have, maybe it was due to the fact that it was a weekday, a school day. The first part was a tunnel, Akashi quietly walked with Furihata's pace. The brunette was obviously oblivious of this, busy with the sight before him. Furihata could barely remember when was the last time he visited the attraction, two years ago, four? It looks nothing like it used to.

As they continue their way to the tunnel, Furihata couldn't help but gape at the rich sight before him, he could smell the salt water in the air. The giant sting ray passed them and the brunette gasped in amusement as he watched the magnificent creature swam its way. It wasn't until a chuckle resounded behind him that Furihata remembered something—or to be more specific, someone.

"AH!" Furihata spun and found Akashi with hand over his lips a smile plastered in his face. "I-I'm sorry! I-I m-must be boring you, I-I can't keep m-myself f-from uhm…looking at them."

Akashi shook his head, "No, go ahead."

"B-But…I…I must be boring you, I-I can't keep a c-conversation w-with Akashi-kun." Furihata mumbles in embarrassment, "I-Its not that I mean it, i-it's just I'm a-amused...with the fishes I mean."

"I told you its alright." Akashi smiled, "When you are busy admiring them, they give me time enough to watch you and your lit eyes."

It took a few seconds before the other's words sunk to Furihata making him blush to the tips of his ears, Akashi had been watching him all these time and he intended that from the beginning? What was so worthy to look at him, he was always a mess? Akashi smiled once more before starting to walk, Furihata started following the other, the other's gaze was making him more self-conscious and now that the other admitted to have an inclination with seriously watching his expression, it was even more…

 _THUMP_

Furihata bit his lower lip, damn it all, why of all people it has to be Akashi Seijuuro? Why did his heart chose him of all people, he wanted to reprimand himself. For all he knows Akashi might be just doing this out of the kindness of his heart or his natural tendency to be a gentleman. Then why was he watching him? Maybe it was just his hobby, maybe was just fascinated about getting a first average guy friend, after all for all those years the other might be surrounded with rich kids and businessmen.

Maybe because he must be merely curious?

He would surely feel disgusted if he ever tell him, he will run away, and he will never show his face again. And losing Furihata wouldn't be much of big deal for someone like Akashi. He was after all just a simple guy, from an average family, he isnt exceptional in anything.

Akashi was just being kind and considerate, and unfortunately Furihata Kouki had fallen for the simple _compassion_ the other had shown him, his tolerance to his utter simplicity and idiocy, Furihata dare gave it another meaning, he dare fall in love with Akashi Seijuuro. And it was far, the biggest mistake he had done—when finally he had been close to his very idol, now he's in the brink of losing that frail string attached to him and the other—just because of silly thing called affection. He knows of all of those and yet, his heart went on its own without listening to him.

 _ **BUMP!**_

Furihata lost in his thoughts didn't realized Akashi stopped in his tracks inevitably crashing in the other's broader back.

"I-I'm sorry!" Furihata exclaimed.

Akashi didn't say anything making the other suddenly conscious of their surrounding, looking around Furihata realized they were already out of the tunnel, they were now in the center of the whole building, a circular open area with the walls made of glass where the sea creatures could be seen swimming mindlessly. The soft blue glow from the aquarium surrounding them made the place look calming, looking up the brunette found a hanging chandelier that looks like strings of crystals emitting a soft white light. There were fewer people in there, all of them going on with their own businesses. . And as if that wasn't enough, there was quiet music playing, from what Furihata could hear it was an English song, he does not understand the words yet somehow Furihata could feel his heart melting with the soft voice resounding in the speaker.

" _Should this be the last thing I see, I want you to know its enough for me."_

"' _Cause all that you are…is all that I ever need."_

Akashi slowly turned to Furihata, and before Furihata asked anything, he felt the slightly bigger hand of the scarlet haired heir scoop his own. With wide eyes Furihata found the other kissing the back of his hand. " _Lumiere."_ Akashi whispered against his hand in a foreign language.

Furihata's face flushed, just what did Akashi said, and what is he exactly doing? His head turned into a mush as Akashi showed no indication of discomfort despite his earlier actions, pulling away Akashi slid his hand from the other's and sneaked into Furihata's cheek.

His hands were cold against the other's flushed cheeks, red looks good in him, Akashi thought quietly as he watch the way the other's eyes that shoed exactly how he feels—anxiety. Akashi studied his features up close, his eyelashes were longer than he thought, and thicker, and his skin was smooth, and he smell like cinnamon. He wondered why, does Furihata like cinnamon? And his lips were very tempting, and Akashi thought that maybe it isn't much of a problem if he let for this once, let that temptation sway him.

And he did just as what his instincts told him to do without consulting the rational part of his brain. And maybe the rational part of his brain had already stopped working a few minutes ago when he saw Furihata's eyes mirrored the color of the sea and his eyes brighter than ever, his skin slightly tinted with the reflection of the waves against the thick glasses. He inhaled the scent that was Furihata Kouki as he slowly closed the gap between them oblivious of their surrounding, all he could hear was the soft music playing through the speakers, and Furihata's muffled gasp. Once his lips touched Furihata's his head felt it went in some kind of short circuit, his lips were softer than he expected. His heart pounded loudly in his chest and his whole body ached for more contact. But he had to stop himself, he cant scare the other by losing his cool now.

Pulling away Akashi stared at Furihata's blushing mess. He was indeed something worth calling _lumiere—_ he was his _light_ , a soft glowing light, like a kind and warm light of the candle in the darkest of the nights. He only hope that he will not be extinguishing that fire with his earlier bold move. "I brought you here to talk of _this_." Akashi started, "I know it might be strange to hear it from me, however, Furihata Kouki you have piqued my interest, ah, no that was merely how I started, you caught my attention, my interest, however these pass days you have proven me that I merely do not wish to unravel your persona, I…want you, all of you just to me. I cannot help but to think that I may burden you with my feelings, however I couldn't keep this up for too long. I kept thinking of you, I keep thinking that I want to hear your voice, so much that it hurts, these past few days I thought I might start doing something to myself if I do not see you or hear your voice, yet I couldn't even call you…I have been imposing in your kindness for a bit too much that I think my existence now had become dependent to you.

You are my personal addiction Furihata Kouki. I have never wanted anything so much as much as I do now to you. I have fallen in love with you, please take responsibility."

Akashi finished his confession and took the frozen brunette's hand and placed it in his pounding chest.

Furihata was unsure of how he was going to reply to that confession, a while ago he was thinking of the impossibility of the other actually falling in love with and now he was there staring at the other's eyes, Akashi's hand holding his against his chest, and he could feel the loud and erratic beating of his heart. Was he dreaming? Could this be a dream, because he was sure that someone like Akashi couldn't possibly fall for him, a guy, and an average looking person of all that. But there was it, he knows his words were true, Akashi never lies, Akashi was rarely fond of jokes, and the coldness of Akashi's hand told him that he is not dreaming…at all.

"Kouki, would you…go out with me?"

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _Luimere-A FRENCH WORD MEANT 'light' COINCIDENTALLY FURIHATA'S NAME IS WRITTEN USING THE CHARACTERS OF 'light'_

 _The song they were listening is actually Ed Sheeran's Tenerife Sea_


	11. Chapter 11

_For everyone who are still waiting for this_

 _THANK YOU SO MUCH_

 _And I'm so sorry for going on a abrupt hiatus ( ^^; )_

 **Chapter 11: Chaser**

The sound of the punch striking on the air is sharp. The loud crash of the body against the floor comes soon. Kiyoshi quietly watches in the corner, arms crossed over his chest. His mind reels back a few days ago. His lips press in a straight line.

He remembers Kuroko in all his _smallness_ , crouched in a corner, shoulders shaking as he pours his heart out to him. He was reduced to that form all due to Kagami Taiga, _their_ Kagami Taiga who probably knew nothing pass outside the basketball court, their _oblivious_ ace.

Kuroko Tetsuya a mystery in flesh has fallen in the mercy of Kagami Taiga.

There is no mistaking it now, Kiyoshi looks at his hand. Kuroko Tetsuya has the hands of a person who is an expert of combat. It is almost surprising especially for someone like Kuroko, his body is almost similar to Furihata, he didn't have much of visible muscle, his height is almost short for his age. Anyone can be fooled, _anyone_. If he wasn't that close to him, if he wasn't that cautious he would have missed it too. Kuroko Testuya is a highly trained individual who could— _can—_ kill Kagami at will and yet…

No, he…it's the only logical explanation, however if that is his goal then how come those expression those… _emotions_. It seems too genuine to be a farce.

Is he wrong about him or they were simply caught in Kuroko's grand scheme?

"Hey."

Kiyoshi hears Aida Riko greets him, he turns to her and finds her walking to him. The brunette looks at him with a concerned expression. It has been a long while since Kiyoshi stepped foot in the Aida family owned dojo. When Kiyoshi was younger, he used to train under Aida's family and he is exceptional. His big built and power often reduces his opponents easily, however his growing need for stronger and more _powerful_ opponents became danger to others. As soon as Kiyoshi noticed this thirst he stepped down.

"I hope you don't mind me hanging around." Kiyoshi says with a smile.

Aida shakes her head, "That's fine but I'm really bothered, what brings you here now?"

Kiyoshi sighs. Honestly, he doesn't really want to discuss this. If possible he wants to keep this secret to himself especially back then he doesn't know what Kuroko's intentions really are but now…

"I think we should talk to Kagami."

"Huh?" Aida raises an eyebrow, "Ah he had a fight with his friend, but I mean that idiot has probably very few friends, I guess he didn't know better. I've let him off hook this time."

"That's not what I mean." Kiyoshi says.

"Then what?"

"Kuroko wants to kill Kagami."

"Ha?"

Kiyoshi shakes his head, he knows this sounds ridiculous. However, why would someone like Kuroko suddenly appear out of the thin air, enrol in Seirin— _in Kagami's class—_ and suddenly become _close_ to him. It is suspicious from the beginning and those hands…He is definitely no ordinary kid.

"Do you remember Haizaki Shougo?"

Aida shivers at the name of that kid. Haizaki Shougo once stood against Kiyoshi, the boy is the son of a prominent martial artist, raised to remember every weakness of the human body from external force, his eyes sneers at his opponent, cold and merciless. He would not bat an eye before breaking, crushing and putting down a man who is twice his built.

"When I saw his eyes, I knew that he would not hesitate to injure me—or _kill._ " Kiyoshi feels the ache of his injury that day, he broke his knee that day. That was his _first_ lose. "When I saw Kuroko, when I looked at his eyes and touched his hand I felt the exact fright I felt when I saw Haizaki."

"T-That's…how? I did not notice, he's just…no I mean Kuroko—"

"He's good at concealing them for normal people, but when he saw me, he was alarmed—he _knew_ me."

"You're just overanalysing."

Aida says and turns her back at Kiyoshi.

"And if I'm not?"

Aida stops.

"What will we do if I'm not? Riko, what if I'm not?"

.

.

.

"What's gotten to you?"

Aomine asks as he wipes off the sweat off his forehead with his shirt. He looks again at Kagami who stood in the three points area while dribbling the ball, the red head's eyes is fixated on the hoop with an expression that's mixture of irritation and something else. Aomine has been good friends with Kagami for a while now, though none of them would _ever_ admit to that.

Aomine met Kagami through Kise, the blonde model whose father is an American, often returns to America during his long vacations to see his family there and apparently the two were neighbours. Kise and Aomine have been in a relationship for quite some time, when Aomine once joined Kise in his vacation he met Kagami and basically played basketball every afternoon until the couple's last day in America. The three kept in touch since then until Kagami came back to Japan.

After returning to Japan, Kagami found out the two were each other high school's basketball aces. The blonde model is Kaijo's ace while Aomine is Too Academy's.

The dark skinned teen sighs as he hears the ball bounced against the side of the ring. That was Kagami's third miss today. The red head may not be the best scorer when it comes to three points but he does not miss consecutively.

"Are you gonna talk about it or you'll just keep glaring daggers at the hoop until your eyeballs fall off?"

Kagami doesn't answer Aomine which is also something new. The red head always has _something_ to say back. The red head sighs and walks to the bench. He sits down and draped a towel over his face.

"I fucked up."

"I pretty much get that," Aomine replies almost rolling his eyes, "When did you not."

Kagami doesn't even bother to answer that instead raised his middle finger at the other.

"You gotta be more specific." Aomine says.

Kagami sighs and removes the towel out of his face. He looks at his friend who looks at him as usual—like he's a shit. That aside, Kagami finds himself wondering. When Kagami met Kise, the blonde admitted that he has a boyfriend. It didn't shock Kagami, not that he looked anything remotely close to the stereotype _gays_ or queers, but the fact that Kagami was the kind of person who rarely even cared about what people's sexuality, after all he believes that the only thing that divides people is their behaviour and respect towards themselves and others.

He found the two's relationship quite _something_ , Kise isn't _always_ with Aomine. The blonde studies in a different school and works as a model, Kise spends a week of his vacation in US and leaves Aomine with only a few days before Kise has to return back to his work. However, never once they looked as if they were growing tired of each other. Maybe their relationship isn't perfect, Aomine would whine about how _extra_ Kise can be a times, sometimes Kise calls Kagami to complain how Aomine makes their shared apartment look like a horrible mess.

They could argue over almost anything.

"Who confessed to who?" Kagami asks making Aomine raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Aomine asks, "The hell do you mean?"

"You and Kise I mean." Kagami says, "Who confessed first?"

Aomine almost choked in his own breath, he feels blush creep in his cheeks as he remembers that very day.

"W-Why you wanna know now?" Aomine says almost grumbling.

"I'll tell you if you tell me."

"The fuck?" Aomine curses, "No shit you tell me first—"

"I asked first." Kagami replies, "Besides why you chicken now?"

Aomine sighs and flops down next to Kagami, he glares at the red head, "If you fucking tell Kise I told you, I will tie your balls to a rock and hang you upside down to some tree."

Kagami doesn't say anything. He waits until Aomine starts talking.

When Aomine met Kise it wasn't really something someone would call _romantic_.

Aomine isn't anybody's son, he was Aomine Keitaro's son. His father's work on the construction business is only a farce, the truth is he works underground. His mother often told his father to quit it but his quitting for someone as deep as he is would be _very_ difficult. Staying has more pros than leaving. Basically, _friends_ were not Aomine's specialty, his mother often told him he got his father's short fuse.

Due to his father's work, Aomine inevitably got mixed in trouble, and then one day on his way back home, he saw _him._ No, no, not Kise but someone that made his blood boil— _Haizaki Shougo_. The son of a hired killer dressed as a _professional_ martial artist always seems to just click all the bad buttons for Aomine. He saw him there, hands on the collar of another middle school student, and he just felt like landing a punch on the face of that proud self-assured asshole.

Later after a few bruises and Haizaki's bleeding nose, he found Haizaki's victim grabbing him and going in for a run—that was Kise. The blonde explained that Haizaki's girlfriend apparently decided he likes the blonde better and that made the idiot angry enough to corner Kise.

Aomine didn't know, it was stupid, he still too high from the brawl and asked the blonde to play basketball with him.

He didn't know when exactly he fell for him, he just did.

When _it_ happened, Kise and he was just playing basketball. Kise got defeated, they were sitting in the middle off the court, there was a towel draped around the blonde's neck. He was wearing his shirt too, it was one of those _borrowed_ items that just seem too nice on the other to ask to be returned. He was laughing while telling him something that happened during the blonde's photoshoot, then he blurted it out.

 _"I like you. We should date."_

"I did." Aomine answers finally.

"How did he react?"

"Ha? Well he thought I was joking for good three days until I had to spell it out for him."

"Spell it out, how?"

Aomine smirks at Kagami, "Oh you wouldn't want to know."

Kagami blushed to the tips of his ears, okay, he really obviously _don't_ want to know what happened there.

"Why you asking anyways?"

Kagami is quiet making Aomine even more curious. Kagami never really asked about how their relationship came to be, instead Kagami often treated their relationship more like a normal one. Aomine was honestly shock to know from Kise that he found a friend whom he had told about their relationship and did not bat an eye, instead replied with a question on how long have they been together and how were things between them.

"I think…No, I like someone."

Aomine's eyes widen, that is definitely _new._ Kagami has never shown interest in the opposite sex or anyone at that. The red head always talked about food and basketball. He has friends but he never saw anyone more than that.

"And you don't know how to confess?" Aomine asks.

Kagami groans. Ah, he is way passed that. On the second thought maybe he could have asked before letting his mouth ran.

"I like a guy."

"So? You don't want to be gay?"

Kagami shakes his head, "I don't give a shit about that but—"

"But what?"

"I think he might be straight and—I don't know I think I might have _not_ been subtle a-and maybe I scared him?"

"You always scare people what's new." Aomine replies, "And what the hell did you do anyways?"

 _Silence…._

"Seriously Kagami?"

"I may have…kissed him and forced him to like me?"

.

.

.

.

The next moment were filled with unwarranted laughter coming from Aomine. The dark skinned basketball ace clutched his stomach as he laughs out loud, oh he wish Kise is here. His jaw almost hurts from laughing but _the Kagami Taiga_ , the oblivious idiot who knew nothing aside from eating and dunking basketballs can actually be like that? Oh this would surely go down to history.

"You sound like the fucking _bocchan_ you are." Aomine says in between laughs. "I don't even want to imagine because I bet I'm definitely laughing until tomorrow morning if I do."

"Yeah, haha, funny." Kagami replies sarcastically, "You do know I'm a bit emotionally hurt right now, yeah?"

Aomine waves his hand in dismissal at Kagami, "You're fine."

"Like hell I'm fine!" Kagami exclaims, "How do I even?"

"I don't know what the hell you mean but you just get around, if he doesn't like you then move on, better luck next time."

"Y-You don't get me, I…I can't like anyone else."

"Every first—" _cough_ , _"_ love, seems irreplaceable, but that's life, you don't get the things you want just because you like it. Didn't you say that before?"

"He's just. He's different."

"Uh-huh."

"And I…I know it's not that he doesn't like me."

Aomine chuckles, "So you think he likes you now?"

"No, seriously." Kagami says, "My gut tells me something off, when he told me he doesn't like me, I feel like I know he's lying."

"You're sounding creepier and creepier every second."

Kagami glares at Aomine, "Yeah says the gay man who despite the fact of being loyal, has kinks towards big boobs."

"Fuck you, is it illegal?"

Kagami sighs and rests his back against the backrest of the bench, he stares at the light of the street post. His hands unconsciously shoots to message his chest where his heart lays, hurt and rejected.

After the incident Kuroko just ran off, he didn't say anything.

A no would have been better than nothing, it's as if he has left him hanging there. Its ridiculous to say but he felt empty, like Kuroko just took a big chunk of him with him when he ran away.

"Can you just kill me now?" Kagami murmurs to the air.

"Well first of, it's not like you're not going to see this person again anyways, right?"

"He's in my class."

"Wow, well that would be awkward but that's how it works. It's either he will reciprocate or he will not. Whatever his answer is you have to get your balls together and accept that." Aomine says, "Or you can always be an asshole and force him."

"Fuck you."

"No thank you, I'm loyal." Aomine says grinning.

Kagami rolls his eyes and stand up from the bench. He starts to get his things together.

"Anyways whose the unlucky kid?"

Kagami doesn't answer for a while and busies himself packing back his things. Aomine hears his phone beep from his bag and he takes it. Kise texted him a picture of his new photobook making him smile. Looking up he finds Kagami almost done with his things.

"Thanks, I have a class tomorrow I should go." Kagami says.

"Sure, I'll wait for Kise here."

Kagami nods and slings his bag to himself, "About the guy…he's name's Kuroko Tetsuya."

Aomine blinks, that sounds familiar.

"See you two around, say hi to blondie for me."

As soon as Kagami bids his goodbye, Aomine's eyes widen. He almost dropped his phone on the ground.

.

.

.

 _Kuroko Tetsuya…_

He's heard of that name before definitely, it's a name very few are lucky enough to know or even speak of—Kuroko Tetsuya, the prodigy of the Kuroko Clan, the underground family that was raised and taught to kill. The name was often spoken in a hush, he was compared to his predecessor, Akashi-Kuroko Tetsumi for his stealth and efficiency that no other hired killers can achieve but he never showed his face in public before.

Aomine feels the sense of danger in the air.

When a predator leaves his den, he is most definitely _hunting_.


End file.
